COVID-19 fears have resulted in the lowest turnout ever at the Malaysian Bar annual general meeting, with just 98 lawyers showing up at 11am today, leading to a failure of quorum.

The Bar Council reconvened the meeting for a further hour, after which the AGM proceeded with a paltry attendance.

“Now, we have already passed the stage, we have no quorum,” Bar vice-president Roger Chan told reporters outside the closed-door meeting at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur.

“It’s now called ‘deemed quorum’, where even if you have just 10 people, you can hold the AGM and conduct business as usual.”

No resolutions are expected to be passed today.

The Bar Council is widely expected to withdraw seven motions to shorten the AGM, with the movers of five others likely to follow suit.

Today’s meeting may just see the reading of the president’s report followed by the committee report, and the passing of last year’s AGM minutes, among others.

The Legal Profession Act 1976 requires 500 members for a quorum to be achieved. The AGM normally sees about 1,000 members in attendance.

Outside the meeting room, exhibitors and lawyers are provided masks and hand sanitiser for free.

“The virus has achieved something that no previous government ever could,” said Bar Council committee member M. Ramachelvam.

“I’ve never seen so few lawyers turn up.”

Last week, some 250 lawyers from the Kuala Lumpur Bar committee underwent checks for the coronavirus after a member, who attended its AGM on February 27, tested positive.

Committee chairman Harleen Kaur had told The Malaysian Insight that the tests were conducted as a precautionary measure.

“When it became known that one of the members was infected, we started liaising with the Health Department on the proper protocols to implement and follow.

“So, all the lawyers who attended the AGM will be called in for testing, and they will need to self-quarantine until March 12.” – March 14, 2020.