Bar Council President blasted by YB Wee on the Karpal Singh issue

Direct from YB Wee Choo Keong blog:

Bar Council should move a motion to censure its President

Excerpts:
"I have reason to believe that the Bar Council did not hold any meeting to discuss about matters involving YB Karpal Singh’s professionalism as a lawyer or moral standing as defence counsel in the YB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial and/or to take a political stand that “YB Karpal Singh has neither contravened the Legal Profession Act 1976 nor any rules of etiquette.”

Since there was no formal complaint lodged against YB Karpal Singh, there was no necessity for Mr Ragunath Kesavan to react in such an emotional manner in total disregards of the image and the integrity of Malaysian Bar.

Mr Ragunath Kesavan’s said press statement was most mischievous whereby he hid under the “skirt” of Bar Council in the hope of currying political favours. He may have political ambitions, which is his absolute right, but as President of Malaysian Bar, he should not allow his said ambitions to drag the Malaysian Bar into controversies and prejudge issues when there was no disciplinary hearing of any sort against YB Karpal Singh’s professionalism or moral standing.

If we were to accept Mr Ragunath Kesavan’s said press statement on matters of this nature then the Bar Council should embark on disbanding its Disciplinary Committee and allowing its President to summarily decide whether a lawyer was in breach of professional etiquette or their moral standing and hand out punishment accordingly.

It would appear that Mr Ragunath Kesavan was aspiring to be the great defender of YB Karpal Singh’s political integrity.  Given YB Karpal Singh’s vast political experiences, I believe YB Karpal Singh is more than capable to fight for his political integrities and he doesn’t need a political novice like Mr Ragunath Kesavan to give him a helping hand to lift him up from the brink.  It was so clear that Mr Ragunath Kesavan’s said press statement was politically motivated to subvert the course of justice by prejudging issues, which have never been deliberated in any meeting whether disciplinary in nature or otherwise.

If Mr Ragunath Kesavan has political ambitions then he should resign as the President of the Malaysian Bar and take a plunge into the political arena. With his past records on issuing press statements, I am sure that certain political leaders will welcome him with open arms like what had happened in the case of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Under circumstances, the Bar Council should act as a professional body and move a motion of censure against its President for being so emotional and reckless in pursuit of his political ambition failing which the Bar Council will lose its professional and moral standing to represent the Malaysian Bar."

I am not a lawyer, but I certainly agree with YB Wee. Mr Ragunath Kesavan has certainly jumped the gun for reasons known to himself. He should do the honorable thing and quit his post. Surely there would be many apolitical lawyers among the many thousands of Bar members, who could be President of the Bar.