KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — A senior backbencher today urged the government to retable the Malaysian Academy of Law bill 2002 to allow the creation of an alternative body to represent lawyers aside from the Bar Council.

Datuk Seri Noh Omar (BN-Tanjong Karang) said it was necessary to create a new body to represent lawyers as the Bar Council has allegedly become an opposition mouthpiece.

“The Bar Council is no longer free. Instead, they have become a political party to the opposition,” he claimed when debating the Royal Address in the Dewan Rakyat.

“They have made several statements which they should not have, like the criticism by a former Bar Council chief especially who said that the move to charge (for sodomy) the opposition leader (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) is a wrongful action,” Noh added.

Though the initial attempt to table the bill was scuttled on grounds that it breached the Legal Profession Act, Noh said the time has come to revive it to better monitor the welfare of those in the legal profession.

The Umno Selangor liaison committee chief claimed that the Bar Council has no respect for the sensitivities of its Muslim members, such as in the case of the tussle between Putrajaya and the Catholic Church over the use of the word “Allah”.

“I want to suggest that the government table this bill again so that it will be more fair and we can better monitor the welfare of those in the legal profession.

“Bring back this bill and this time let’s not be afraid and bow to them (Bar Council) anymore,” Noh said, adding that “technically” the Bar Council has no say in the matter.

Noh, a lawyer by training, also demanded that the Bar Council have its meeting attendance quota fixed at over 50 per cent before a meeting can begin, accusing the legal body of being undemocratic and unable to “elect their own committee members properly”.

Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong), who interjected on Noh’s debate, said lawyers would have “options” by allowing the creation of an alternative body to the Bar Council.

“Today they (lawyers) have no choices and we know many of the Bar Council statements don’t represent their members views,” he told the August House.

Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), in an earlier interjection on Noh’s debate, claimed that the Bar Council is no longer relevant and called for it to be revamped.

“They are supposed to discuss issues relating to the nation and lawyers but instead they get involved in street rallies.

“I want to suggest that the Bar Council be revamped and not do as they wish because they don’t represent the Bar Council but the opposition,” Bung claimed.

Criticism of Bar Council President Christopher Leong also intensified in recent weeks after he questioned the prosecution of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was convicted of sodomy and sentenced by the Federal Court on February 10 to five years’ jail.

It was reported in 2012 that Putrajaya would look into reviving the Malaysian Academy of Law bill 2002.

The bill was first tabled in 2002 with the aim of setting up a legal academy with functions that overlapped with that of the Bar Council, but was eventually dropped “out of respect for the Bar”, according to earlier reports.