The 70th Annual General Meeting of the Bar Council – Why So Secretive?

A member of the Malaysian Bar

The 70th Annual General Meeting of Bar Council was held today from 11.15am to 3.30pm, at Renaissance Hotel, Jalan Ampang. Sadly, no media were allowed to cover what had transpired during the so called ‘closed room AGM’. The irony is that a number of media such as TV3 and BERNAMA were invited officially to do the media coverage on the AGM by the organisers!

However, with the help of those attended the AGM, few interesting information came to light.

Firstly, the AGM was delayed due to the insufficient attendees, which supposed to be more than 500 members. Therefore, the AGM, which was scheduled to begin at 10am, commenced only at 11.15am.

Among the 818 members who attended the AGM, 740 had voted to sack AG, followed by 62 of them who voted against it. And 16 members remained without taking sides.

According to the latest record of Bar Council, its total members are 16,535. But merely 818 of them turned up for the 70th AGM – which is just 4.95% of the total members! So, the million- dollar question is: are the results of the voting – done in a closed door AGM, sufficient to sack AG? Or, reliable in first place?

Leave results aside, what about a few members who attended the meeting, wearing T-Shirt bearing the words: “Kami Benci Racism”- which means “We Hate Racism” and “Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia” and carrying white bags, bearing wordings: “Perdana Menteri Saya Memalukan” which means, “My Prime Minister is an Embarrassment”!

Although, the complete report of the 70th AGM of Bar Council is yet to be published, the poll’s results in the AGM, reflects an utter contempt by the majority members against the Bar Council. Not to mention, some of the attendees’ shirts and bags – show hatred against the PM. In a nutshell, the 70th AGM is just another failed plot by the Bar Council to oust AG and eventually the PM!