Former council chairman Ragunath Kesavan said campaigning for the annual election used to be a low-key affair, with only 3,000 to 3,500 members in the peninsula casting their votes.
Now, though, he knows of at least two groups reaching out for support for election to the council.
He said one group brands itself as progressive and secular while the other is endorsed by an Islamist faction.
Ragunath said he had no problem with the formation of camps, calling it part and parcel of democracy.
“(But) the contest is getting intense as members feel that the present office bearers have been reluctant to stand up on key fundamental issues linked to religion and politics,” he told FMT.
Ragunath, who served as Bar president for two terms from 2009, said the council and the Bar had never shied away from the fight for reforms.
“We have always been at the forefront of advocating reforms, confronting the government and institutions for accountability, and pushing for the rule of law.
“We must never abrogate our duty and calling,” he said.
According to a post by the council secretariat, 35 candidates have filed nomination papers so far, the highest number in a decade.
Ballot papers will be sent out by post this week and returned to the secretariat by Dec 2. Votes will be counted the following day.
The term of the 38 current council members will expire at the next annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for March 14, 2020.
The new council will consist of the 12 running for election as well as the immediate past president and vice-president, the chairman of each of the 12 state Bar committees, and 12 state Bar representatives.
Key office bearers – the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer – are elected from among the 38 immediately after the AGM.
Senior lawyer Gopal Sri Ram, who served on the council for 10 years, said there was hardly any jostling for positions when he began practising in 1970.
“Those who were interested in serving members and the public would just file their nomination papers and let the members decide,” he told FMT.
Sri Ram, who retired as a Federal Court judge but returned to practice, said previous leaders had responded swiftly to the government of the day.
“We used to issue press statements a few hours after the government had made its stand on issues of public interest,” he said.
He recalled the council’s efforts to help those detained under the now-defunct Internal Security Act in 1987 during the crackdown on politicians and civil society leaders under Operasi Lalang.
“Senior lawyers organised themselves and quickly filed writs of habeas corpus to challenge their detention,” he said.
Now, though, the council had become more of a social club, he added.
He, too, spoke of candidates campaigning along religious and racial lines, calling it an unhealthy trend.
“The Bar has always been known to uphold the rule of law without recognising ethnicity or religious background.
“Justice belongs to all,” he said.