THE Malaysian Bar’s shortest ever annual general meeting (AGM) today saw the election of a new council led by president Salim Bashir.

Salim, who was formerly the Bar secretary, replaces Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor, who stepped down after serving a year as president.

“We expect to have a meaningful relationship with the new government of the day,” Salim told a press conference after the closed-door meeting in Wisma MCA, Kuala Lumpur.

Salim was flanked by the newly appointed council made up of Bar vice-president Surindar Singh, secretary A.G. Kalidas and treasurer Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab.

Fears of Covid-19 infection led to the poor turnout today with just 87 Bar members present when the AGM was reconvened at 12.15pm, after failing to achieve quorum an hour earlier.

The AGM lasted an hour, after which 38 council members participated in a vote for new office bearers.

“There is a lot of work to be done in respect of upholding the rule of law and I call upon the Malaysian government to administer this nation in accordance with the rule off law, and maintain prudent policies that benefit the rakyat,” said Salim.

“And despite the global pandemic that we are facing, we urge the government to focus on bringing back our economy on the right track, abolish oppressive laws like Sosma, the Sedition Act and draconian laws that impede natural justice.

“We also call upon the government to enact sufficient laws to protect the vulnerable class of people like women, children, indigenous people and stateless persons.”

Salim also urged the government to “carry on the good work of the earlier government” in establishing the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).”

Salim noted that the promised reforms to the Legal Professions Act (LPA) 1976 had been on the back-burner. “We are urging the law minister (Takiyuddin Hassan) to table the new LPA motion in the coming Parliament sitting.”

Salim also urged the government to amend the constitution to separate the office of the Attorney-General from that of the public prosecutor.

At today’s AGM, all 12 motions, including seven by the Bar, were withdrawn.

“In view of the Covid-19 situation, the Bar council and the other proposers have decided to withdraw their motions with the option of tabling them in the future,” said Salim.

“The Bar Council will decide to convene an EGM in the future after the Covid-19 situation improves.

“At today’s AGM, we went through the minutes (of last year’s AGM), and the reports and accounts were adopted without much debate,” said Salim, adding he was confident his election fulfilled all statutory requirements.

On whether today’s low turnout would result in members calling into question the election of the new council, Salim replied: “Under the Legal Profession Act, we do not see any problems. They have elected the office bearers as per requirements.”

“This is a historical AGM where we have the longest wait (for it to start) and the shortest meeting with the lowest turnout of 87 members.

“The AGM, which was scheduled to begin at 10am, began instead at 12.15pm.”

Ninety-eight members had turned up but 11 of them had left by the time the AGM was convened.

The Legal Profession Act 1976 requires 500 members to be present for quorum. The AGM usually has about 1,000 members in attendance.

The Bar has cancelled tonight’s annual dinner and dance. – March 14, 2020.