About Johore Bar

by S. Balarajah

 

The Johore Bar Committee ("JBC") is a creature of statute. It was created pursuant to Section 39 (2) of the Advocates & Solicitors Ordinance 1947 ("the Ordinance").

This Ordinance was promulgated on the 14th February 1947 and in the preamble it is stated that this is "an Ordinance to amend the law with respect to Advocates & Solicitors." But it does not say what earlier legislation was repealed or amended.

The Ordinance empowered any State in the States of Malaya to form a local Bar Committee if the number of practitioners at the State Bar exceeded 10 in number. In the event the numbers were less than 10 then 2 or more States could combine together and form a combined Bar Committee, as was the case of Perak, Kedah, Perlis Bar Committee and Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang Bar Committee.

Unlike the current Legal Profession Act 1976 ("the LPA") the powers of discipline of members was with a Disciplinary Committee appointed by the Chief Justice on the recommendation of the Bar.

The local Bar Committee had powers after hearing and investigating any complaint to invite the Chief Justice to appoint a Disciplinary Committee comprising members of the Bar to show cause why his admission should not be revoked and he be struck off of Rolls or to be suspended from practice for any period not exceeding 2 years or to be censured.

The complaint in the first instance was made to the Bar Committee and hence the Bar Committee's work then was inundated with a huge load of complaints and the Committee had to hear and investigate the same before inviting the Chief Justice to constitute Disciplinary Committees comprising senior members of Bar.

This power of investigating into the conduct of members of the Bar is not vested in the current Bar Committees as the LPA has vested the same in the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board.

By reason of Johore's close proximity to Singapore a vast number of practitioners in Johor Bahru and the outlying districts of Johore in the 50's, 60's and 70's were from Singapore who maintained offices both in Singapore and Johore. They were in common parlance called "Sunday lawyers" or "weekend lawyers" by Johoreans. Johore Courts were opened on Saturday and Sunday then.

The senior members of the Johore Bar and those in the November of their career will recollect the names of R.Murugason, his brother R Rameson, Omar Salleh, Sim Teow Geok, T.T.Rajah, S K Lee, Peter Williams and others from the Singapore Bar dominating the local legal scene.

It is perhaps of the large influx of Singaporeans to Johore then that S.39 (2) (second limb) of the Ordinance to constitute a Bar Committee reads as follows:

"Provided that, as regards the State of Johore, each practitioner who was a member of the Johore Bar on the 8th day of December, 1941, shall be deemed to be practising in the State of Johore whether or not he or any of his partners maintains an office in that State."

The Chairman of the Johore Bar Committee and its members in the 50s, 60s and 70s were therefore dominated and controlled by Singapore lawyers.

A curious decision was made by a Singapore Chairman of the Johore Bar Committee one Mr John Pillai on 26-01-1969 at the Annual General Meeting of the Johore Bar. The decision was that Legal Assistants were not practitioners falling within the ambit of the Ordinance and as such were not allowed the right to vote at the AGM of their own Bar Committee which governs their affairs.

The then Chairman of Johore Bar Committee ruled that only proprietors of legal firms who practised and maintained offices in Johore could vote at the AGM.

Several Legal Assistants employed by various legal firms in Johore were perturbed and furious with the decision of the Chairman which they thought was perverse and untenable.

They (Devika Rani Selvadurai, Upali Masacorale, HL Tennakoon and Hendon Mohamed) challenged the said ruling in Court. Justice Dato Syed Othman (as he then was) in his judgement (1970 (2) MLJ 21) ruled that a Legal Assistant is indeed a practitioner and was entitled to attend and vote at the AGM.

As noted earlier, the Johore Bar Committee was dominated by Singaporeans. The Chairman in 1966-67 was Tan Sri Syed Esa Almenoar. In 1968/9 it was R Ramason then and John Pillai and only from the 1970's Malaysians took over and ran the Johore Bar Committee.

The late Abdullah A Rahman took over the reins as the Chairman in 1970. He held on to it for more than a decade as he was held in high esteem by fellow members of the Bar. He became the first member of the Johore Bar to become the President of the Bar Malaysia.

The thorn in the flesh of the members of the Johore Bar in the 70's was the domination of the Johore Bar by the Singaporeans who opened offices in Johor Bahru and at the various districts and these offices were mainly manned by clerks as the Singapore lawyers would only attend office on Saturdays and Sundays as it was their weekend in Singapore.

The late Che Lah (as Abdullah A Rahman was known to all and sundry) lobbied for amendment to the Ordinance to curtail the foreign dominance of the Johore Bar.

In 1970 an amendment was passed by Parliament i.e. section 5(1) of the Ordinance was duly enacted which permits only permanent residents of Malaysia or Malaysian citizens to be admitted to the Bar and carry on practice in Malaysia and maintain offices here.

By reason of the aforesaid legislative amendment many Singapore law firms in Johore changed hands and Malaysians took over.

The Johore Bar Committee have had a most cordial relationship with the Bench at all times. Mr Justice Ali Hassan who took over from the then resident Judge in Johore Mr Justice Azmi in 1966 started the Johore Bench and Bar vs Johore Police Cricket Tournament in 1968 and donated the "Ali Hassan Trophy". This tournament is religiously carried out even to the present day and promotes camaraderie amongst Bench, Bar and Police.

The LPA, 1976 diluted the powers of the Bar Committee and it became a body to look after the welfare of members be a liaison committee and authorised to levy funds.

After Che Lah ceased to be Chairman of the Johore Bar the Chair was taken over by W.D.Moses, Upali Masacorale, Arthur Lee, S Balarajah, S Sagadeva, Tuan Hj Kuthubul Zaman, P K Nathan, R A Kumar and S Gunasegaran.

The current Chairman is Gana Muthusamy who was called to the Bar in 1986.

The Johore Bar has seen tremendous growth in numbers and is now the 2nd largest Bar in the country with 1,196 members on its list as at 29th April 2003.

Johore Bar prides itself in having 2 of its members at the helm of the Malaysian Bar - Hj Kuthubul Zaman Bin Bukhari as President of the Malaysian Bar and Yeo Yang Poh as its Vice-President (2003/2004).

It cherishes the fact that the 1st and only lady President (thus far) of the Malaysian Bar is the reticent Puan Hendon Bte Mohamad a prodigy of the Johore Bar.

Mr S Theivanthiran who derived his birth in Johore and infant nurture at the Bar in Johore went on to become the Chairman of the Perak Bar 1984/85 and the President of the Bar Malaysia in its turbulent years 1989/90 following the Salleh Abbas episode.

They have all done the Johore Bar proud. And we are proud of them all and hold them in high esteem.

They have all become dedicated to their calling respectable in life and an ornament to the society of which they have become fervent, ardent and dedicated members. Such praiseworthy and exemplary conduct ought to be emulated by all if at all possible.

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