‘The Malaysian Bar’ resides on the 4th floor of the Wisma Badan Peguam Malaysia, 2, Leboh Pasar Besar, 50050 Kuala Lumpur. It was officially unveiled by Marisa R Ng, the artist and Karen Cheah, the present Bar Council President in the afternoon on 22 August 2023 by way of a casual internal ceremony.

I met Marisa through Nicholas Choong. I commissioned Nick to paint a mural on the external front wall of our atelier. I befriended him through our conversations when our cigarette breaks conveniently coincided. I found him a thoughtful, deep, sensitive and cool guy. I resonated with his outlook and approach to life. Nick invited Marisa over for the stencilling portions of the mural and to help out with some parts of the mural. Marisa is a naturally chatty person so I came to know her too.

Although the idea for The Malaysian Bar did not arrive fully formed, the idea of making art from law and legal practice was an idea I was exploring and still do.

It was around the time the mural was almost finished I broached the idea that would become The Malaysian Bar with Marisa. I spoke to her about it because, at one of our first or second conversations, I recalled her saying she wanted to ‘do something with the law’ but didn’t know what but whatever it was she intended to use lettering for her work.

This idea of doing something with the law and art was something I was thinking about and feeling rather strongly about it too.

I wrote about it in early 2022 in Legal Practice as Performance Art but had been exploring it for at least two years before that. Since Marisa was interested in doing something with the law, had the artistic chops (I was impressed with the experimental stencilled artworks she was working on and finished) and it synced with what I wanted to achieve, I thought we were a good fit to work together.

The pieces for The Malaysian Bar fell into place over time.

The first piece was the idea of creating a 6 x 10 stencilled piece reminiscent of the ancient laws chiselled in stone like the Rosetta Stone, The Code of Hammurabi and the Gortyn law code.

The second piece would be what should be used for the text. Since the law was the theme, what law should it be about? I avoided the Federal Constitution because I have something going on about that. This part took a while. I wanted it to be meaningful but I did not have an idea how then.

Inspiration for it arose from having to confront the unadorned walls of the Bar Council every time I attended a meeting there. I noticed how much wall and space the Bar Council had like that: spartan, impoverished, devoid of aesthetics. There were walls and spaces pregnant with possibilities, crying out for the caress of a tasteful touch and aesthetic eye.

I decided the piece would be for the Bar Council to grace its wall. If anything, I wanted something beautiful to look at when I was there and did my bit for the Malaysian Bar.

The other pieces fell easily into place after that.

Since it was for the Bar Council, I should use the Legal Profession Act 1976. Since the entity established under the LPA76 is ‘the Malaysian Bar’, it should contain provisions relating to the Malaysian Bar and since it is the Bar Council that oversees it, the Bar Council too. Hence sections 41, 42 and 47 LPA76 were used as the text.

The third piece was Marisa’s suggestion for there to be words that floated above the legal text. Those words would reflect the high standards and noble aspirations of the Bar Council for the Malaysian Bar. I loved the idea and the contrast of those words against the wording of the statutory provisions.

For that, I worked with Jakob and Sunil from the Bar Council Secretariat. I asked them to draw up a list of words they felt characterized the Bar Council. I went through them and picked out ten or eleven. We could not use too many words. Those words that appear in different sizes from the main body of text are the words selected by the ‘Bar Council’ so to speak. I merely chose the ones that worked best.

I wanted the Bar Council secretariat to participate in the creation of the artmaking to acknowledge their contribution to the administration and management of the Malaysian Bar. I wanted ‘their words’, using that loosely, to adorn the piece.

I wanted the artwork to be a joint effort between the artist and Bar Council.

The fourth piece was what colours to use. Marisa said we should use ‘legally related’ colours. The black and white of law was obvious. Traffic light colours were not obvious to me. Marisa pointed that out. I thought that was brilliant. So red, green, yellow, black and white.

The fifth piece was where to put it. I wanted it where it is located now: on the wall to the right of the reception on the 4th floor which sits outside the Bar Council secretariat offices, the pantry and the main Bar Council meeting room. I am grateful and happy the Bar Council kindly agreed to install it at its present location. Thanks too for creating the plaque and installing it beside the piece.

I am very pleased with Marisa’s work. She articulated the ideas we discussed far better than I ever could. I was blown away when I first saw a picture of it. That’s why she is the artist and I am the lawyer. We have to stand before it to appreciate how imposing it can be.

The deep black lurking behind the splatter of words gives it an imposing and authoritative look. That darkness represents chaos. We use words to impose order on and shape our realities.

The words were painstakingly stencilled and then stencilled over are a reminder of the changing nature of the law and its need to keep up with the times. It reflects the changing nature of the LPA76. It was amended around 10 times since it was enacted. The larger yellow and green-coloured words that lie above the statutory wording suggest the heightened nature of those values and aspirations and how they embody the spirit of the Malaysian Bar and the Bar Council.

The varying intensities of the text’s whiteness with some of them gently fading away an artful replication of the weathering away of the legal text on ancient rocks. They reflect how some laws disappear and remain lost forever never to be reenacted although their ghostly presence still haunts our collective unconscious.

That more of the canvas is covered by words than not reflects the statutory permanency of the Bar Council despite the changes, uncertainties and challenges to its existence and duties.

I am particularly happy with this piece not just because I think it is beautiful to look at and contemplate. It is a beautiful manifestation of what I mean when I talk about creating art from law and legal practice and an accommodation and engagement between the two.

The Malaysian Bar is my idea of ‘legal art’ i.e., art made from the law that has special relevance and appreciation to those in the legal profession, whilst possessing an aesthetic that can hold its own in the fine arts world.