updated version

Bar Council president Mah Weng Kwai announced today there will be an emergency general meeting next Friday to discuss a motion censuring its leaders for not opposing a law which bans the council's office bearers from holding political posts.

"In order to be independent, you have to be seen to be independent," said Mah in defending the council's decision.

He argued that it was on this basis that he agreed that office bearers should not hold political post in other organisations.

Last Thursday, a group of 75 lawyers delivered an official notice to the council urging for an EGM.

The move was the result of the council's opposition to lawyer R Sivarasa who had applied to the High Court seeking a declaration that Section 46A of the Legal Profession Act 1976 was invalid because it violates the freedom of association provision in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

The council had opposed Sivarasa's application, and Mah was reported to have said that "the council objected to his application because it felt its independence must always be evident to the public".

The provision in the act disqualifies lawyers who are office bearers in political parties, trade unions and other political organisations, from holding office in the Bar Council.

Sivarasa was disqualified as a Bar Council member after he was appointed a vice-president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

Creature of statute

According to Mah, the Bar Council, which represents more than 10,000 lawyers in the Malaysian Bar, was a body created by law.

"The Bar Council is a creature of statute. I want to stress that we are not a non-governmental organisation and we are definitely not a political party," said Mah when speaking to reporters at the council's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

"We may consider issues which are political in nature because it is close to our heart but we have to remain non-partisan," he explained.

Mah said the council did not want to see leaders of political parties, albeit from the opposition or the government, to be in the council.

"We have to make it clear that we do not dabble in politics," he stressed.

Not contradictory

When an amendment to include the controversial provision which excludes Bar Council members from holding positions in political parties in the Legal Profession Act was made in 1977, the Bar had passed a resolution against the move.

The lawyers opposed the amendment because it imposed restrictions on the Bar to choose its own leaders and that it impeded its independence.

Mah, however, denied that his recent statements contradicted the 1977 resolution.

"When we had our annual general meeting in 1978, the 'unholy haste' the government made in adding that provision to the act was regretted but resolutions made by some young lawyers to repeal that provision was not passed by the Bar Council, so it is not contradictory.

"But basically we are just saying that if the members of the Bar or the public wish for Bar Council members to be allowed into politics then the government can amend the act," he said.

Law academy criticised

Meanwhile, Mah criticised the upcoming Malaysian Academy of Law Bill mooted by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim stating that certain provisions in the bill were unclear.

"The provision speaks on the issue of conduct but in terms of conduct and discipline, the Legal Profession Act provides for that. The academy therefore, should not concern itself with conduct," he said.

However, Mah said he agreed with the academy's concept.

The academy is to be set up as a legal education body tasked with supplementing and enhancing legal education in Malaysia and would accept those with proper qualifications including those not within the legal fraternity.

It is to be governed by a senate which comprises the Chief Justice, three Federal Court judges, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, the Attorney-Generals of Sabah and Sarawak, the Bar president, academics and other high-ranking official of the legal fraternity.

Lack of representation

However, Mah complained that there is only one representative from the Bar Council and this is disproportionate.

Fearing that the Malaysian Bar would be undermined, he urged the government not to allow the academy to duplicate the former's function.

"The bill also does not specify the holding of general meetings, hence if issues arise then they cannot be discussed," he added.

Mah also noted that if members of the Bar were compelled to join the academy, it would become an undue burden as members would have to pay extra fees.