BY GURDIAL SINGH NIJAR
(Deputy President, HAKAM)
THE former de facto law minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz (now tourism and culture minister), has unmasked the motive behind the proposed amendments to the Legal Profession Act (LPA): to clip its wings. “If you want to monitor, monitor on what?” he asked. He was amazed that this was taking place in present times.
The Bar, he said, has always been critical even during his term as law minister. “It has not weakened the government in any way. We are still here; we are stronger and to me, let them be,” he said.
This roundly repudiates Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman’s contention – that the proposed amendments to the LPA would only seek to address “bread and butter issues” like legal exams and the ability of all legal practitioners to speak and read English. Ignoring the fact that two government representatives would sit in the Bar Council; and that the whole election system would be revamped such that, according to the Bar Council president, Steven Thiru, it would impede the Bar’s proper functioning.