Last month, I submitted my nomination papers for the Bar Council 2021/2022 elections.

I am offering myself as a candidate to be elected for that Bar Council election.

I have been thinking about this for some time. I believe the time has come for me to do it. I am doing this because I feel that now I can meaningfully contribute to the Bar Council.

Before this, I served the Bar in a variety of ways.

Early in my career at the Bar, I was deeply involved in legal aid work and committees through the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Bar Council Legal Aid Centres. I sat on legal aid committees, participated in outreach clinics, gave talks, and also conducted cases, both civil and criminal pro bono. I wrote about the lessons I learned from legal aid on LoyarBurok to share my experience with the purpose of encouraging and promoting legal aid work. This piece is one of them.

Back then, I was involved and supported the Bar Council’s work and efforts through my participation as a committee member in a variety of sub-committees. Over the years, I have served in the Criminal Law Committee, Publication Committee, Syariah Law Committee, Advocacy Training Committee, and a couple of ad-hoc Committees. I have always supported Bar Council initiatives that are in the public and the Bar’s interest. In that respect, throughout my career, I have given countless talks, seminars and workshops for and on behalf of the Bar and its work.

I have acted for the Bar Council in various capacities. I have prosecuted cases in court on its behalf – judicial reviews, watching briefs, and defences – as well as representing it in disciplinary committee hearings. I have rendered legal opinions to the Bar Council whenever engaged to do so.

As you can see, most of my efforts for the Bar thus far have been in an executory capacity.

I feel myself ready to perform at the policy level. I have ideas that I think are in the best interest of members of the Bar and the Bar Council that I would like to advance.

Over the years, I have aspired to be eventually involved at the policy level. I would like to play a bigger role in participating and influencing the shaping and forming of the rules, rulings, attitudes and other higher-level policy level decisions the Bar Council makes.

I feel ready to perform at the policy level now, both personally and professionally. I feel I have much to offer. I have ideas and initiatives that I’d like to advance that I think are in the best interests of the Bar and the Bar Council.

I will be articulating these ideas over the next few weeks. I do this not in the hope that these ideas will be immediately implemented. I do so in the hope that they will take root, be discussed and eventually manifest the best version of it for the betterment of not just members of the Bar but society as a whole.