Take up your grievance at AGM, Bar chief tells 100 lawyers

Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong says the lawyers who are demanding his resignation should raise the matter at the Bar's annual general meeting, to be held in three weeks' time. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, February 21, 2015.

Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong said the 100 lawyers who demanded his resignation over his remarks on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction should raise the matter at the Bar's annual general meeting (AGM) to be held next month.

"They should attend the AGM where many of our fellow members will be present and raise it there," Leong said in a text message, in response to the demand by the group that he tender an unconditional public apology to the judiciary and the public.

The lawyers said they would take all necessary steps to ensure Leong resigned from his post immediately and to have the Attorney-General (A-G) bring contempt proceedings against him.

Meanwhile, a Bar Council member said any lawyer could submit a motion to be debated at the AGM.

"This group should take this opportunity to be present at the meeting to articulate their views and win support from those present," said the lawyer on condition of anonymity.

Notice of the AGM scheduled for March 14 will be out next week, and some 15,500 members in the peninsula are eligible to attend, although usually only about 1,000 would be present.

The lawyer said it was pointless to make demands for Leong to resign as he would be vacating his position after the AGM.
 
Leong has been president for the past two terms.

Earlier today, the group of 100 lawyers said Leong's remark was a direct attack on the Federal Court without any legal basis and brought the nation's highest court into disrepute and odium.

Soon after the apex court affirmed Anwar's conviction and sentence on February 10, Leong had said there was a perception that the accused was persecuted, fuelled by "glaring anomalies", including not charging complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Leong said the charge against Anwar was based on a provision of the Penal Code that was rarely used, but this was later refuted by A-G, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Leong said Anwar had been prosecuted and convicted twice for an alleged offence of sexual acts between adults, wherein the charge does not contain elements of coercion.

The Federal Court which found Anwar guilty of sodomising his former aide Saiful in a condominium unit at Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur in 2008, also upheld the opposition leader's five-year jail term.

Leong drew support from rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LF), saying it was his legal duty to speak up on public interest issues.

LFL executive director, Eric Paulsen said Leong had acted in the tradition of the Bar of upholding justice and speaking up without fear and favour.

"So, it is absurd to demand that Leong retract his statement and tender an unequivocal and unconditional public apology to the judiciary and the public," he had said.

Paulsen said this was the tradition in all Commonwealth countries and in Malaysia, and it was a statutory duty enshrined in the Legal Profession Act (LPA) 1976 to speak up.

"In Anwar's case, his response is legitimate and consistent with his duty as president of the Bar," he told The Malaysian Insider.

In the summary of his judgment, Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria found that claims of political conspiracy by Anwar's defence team were unsubstantiated.

He also agreed with the High Court and Court of Appeal that Saiful was a credible witness.

Several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU), Canada, Australia and Switzerland have expressed concerns over the Federal Court's verdict.

- TMI