Ragunath Kesavan said anything less would be a serious dereliction of the role and duties of the council and the Malaysian Bar .
“For the longest time, the council and the Bar had been in the forefront of advocating reform, confronting the government and institutions for accountability and pushing for the rule of law. We must never abrogate our duties and callings,” Ragunath said in a statement.
The council manages the day to day affairs of the Bar, which represents the interest of about 20,000 lawyers in the peninsula.
Ragunath, who led the lawyers’ group from 2009 to 2011, said the council had always spoken up on any matter relating to the law and constitution regardless of so-called “sensitive issues”.
He said the persecution of the Shias, the attempt to amend the Selangor state constitution to allow for unilateral conversion, issues relating to the rights of Orang Asli, and constitutional and law reforms were some of the current issues that the council must address.
Ragunath was reacting to a statement by council member Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali that it would refrain from acting as a non-governmental organisation or venture into religious and political disputes.
Rafique had said as the sole body representing lawyers, it must be seen as being responsible for every statement it made.
“We will refrain from any representation that will allow certain parties to insinuate public discord,” he had said.
Earlier, lawyer Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar had called on the council to speak up on public interest issues such as those concerning preacher Dr Zakir Naik and the recent High Court ruling that women’s group Sisters in Islam (SIS) must go to the shariah court to challenge the fatwa declaring it a deviant group.
A FMT report quoted Syed Iskandar as saying the council should take a position on such issues based on the rule of law.
The council has so far remained silent on the the remarks of Naik, a fugitive wanted in India, which offended citizens of Indian and Chinese descent.
It was also silent on the High Court ruling on SIS, the proposal by the Selangor government that its Islamic enactment be amended to allow for unilateral conversion, and the recent raids by religious authorities on Shia Muslims in Selangor and Johor.
Syed Iskandar said the council’s leaders had always been ready to give their legal opinion even if it did not go down well with the establishment or views of the majority.