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Bar Council EGM dissolved after lack of quorum
3 hours ago
Minderjeet Kaur
The council’s president, Ezri Abdul Wahab says 500 members were needed to convene the EGM but only 309 members turned up
Bar Council president Ezri Abdul Wahab said he is disappointed that the extraordinary general meeting had been dissolved as money was spent to organise it.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) has been dissolved due to a lack of quorum, Bar Council president Ezri Abdul Wahab said.
He said 500 members were needed to convene the EGM but only 309 members turned up.
“I am disappointed (that it has been dissolved) because for each EGM we have to spend money,” he said at a press conference at Menara Matrade here this morning.
The EGM had been called for on July 1 to debate two key motions concerning judicial independence in the country.
Lawyers waiting at Menara Matrade for the EGM before it was dissolved.
One, titled “Judicial independence”, was supposed to be tabled by Ezri.
The second, “Motion to hold the prime minister accountable for having allowed for the undermining of public confidence in the judiciary,” was to have been jointly proposed by lawyers Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Surendra Ananth, with support from four others.
A third motion, “Implementing a fair rate of minimum remuneration for pupils”, put forward by lawyers Goh Cia Yee and Vince Tan, had garnered widespread support and was seconded by 190 lawyers.
Ezri said the young lawyers had been expected to attend, especially for the tabling of the third motion.
“We felt the young lawyers wanted to speak up and that was why we organised the EGM,” he said.
Among the lawyers who had turned up for the EGM was former attorney-general Tommy Thomas.
Asked if the lack of quorum was due to a lack of trust in the Malaysian Bar, its vice-president Anand Raj said those who attended wanted to hear the debate.
“The majority of members had entrusted us with the motion at the AGM in March. That motion passed, and what has happened in the last few months reflects that,” he said.
He was referring to the motion for the Bar to file a legal challenge against the Federal Territories Pardons Board over the decision to halve former prime minister Najib Razak’s jail sentence for his SRC International corruption conviction.
This is not the first time that the lack of a quorum had led to Bar meetings being called off.
In 2023, the Bar’s annual general meeting (AGM) was called off when only 276 lawyers turned up. A quorum of 500 was needed for the AGM to proceed.
This led to lawyer-activist Siti Kasim lashing out at “lazy” lawyers, saying that there were 9,000 members in Kuala Lumpur alone.
There are 24,000 Bar members in Peninsula Malaysia.
One, titled “Judicial independence”, was supposed to be tabled by Ezri.
The second, “Motion to hold the prime minister accountable for having allowed for the undermining of public confidence in the judiciary,” was to have been jointly proposed by lawyers Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Surendra Ananth, with support from four others.
A third motion, “Implementing a fair rate of minimum remuneration for pupils”, put forward by lawyers Goh Cia Yee and Vince Tan, had garnered widespread support and was seconded by 190 lawyers.
Ezri said the young lawyers had been expected to attend, especially for the tabling of the third motion.
“We felt the young lawyers wanted to speak up and that was why we organised the EGM,” he said.
Among the lawyers who had turned up for the EGM was former attorney-general Tommy Thomas.
Asked if the lack of quorum was due to a lack of trust in the Malaysian Bar, its vice-president Anand Raj said those who attended wanted to hear the debate.
“The majority of members had entrusted us with the motion at the AGM in March. That motion passed, and what has happened in the last few months reflects that,” he said.
He was referring to the motion for the Bar to file a legal challenge against the Federal Territories Pardons Board over the decision to halve former prime minister Najib Razak’s jail sentence for his SRC International corruption conviction.
This is not the first time that the lack of a quorum had led to Bar meetings being called off.
In 2023, the Bar’s annual general meeting (AGM) was called off when only 276 lawyers turned up. A quorum of 500 was needed for the AGM to proceed.
This led to lawyer-activist Siti Kasim lashing out at “lazy” lawyers, saying that there were 9,000 members in Kuala Lumpur alone.
There are 24,000 Bar members in Peninsula Malaysia.
I was told many , many Bar members were not supporting or even oppose Motion One and Motion Two.
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