KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — A lawyer said today that he will raise at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee the issue of another legal practitioner, who is pictured wearing court dress on an anti-gay book the latter authored, for purportedly violating the profession’s etiquette rules.
Alex Anton Netto said the picture of Mohd Khairul Anwar Ismail in court robes on the cover of the book titled “Suami Gay Isteri Mak Nyah: Nafsu Songsang Terlaknat” (Gay Husband, Transgender Wife: Unnatural Desires Damned by God) breached Rule 30 of the Legal Profession (Practice & Etiquette) Rules 1978, which states that a lawyer shall not wear robes in a public place other than in court, or while traveling to or from court.
“Courtroom attire is only meant for courtrooms,” Alex, who sits on the KL Bar Committee, told Malay Mail Online.
“If one of the lawyers complains, then the disciplinary board is compelled to act. Then punishments could follow through. He could get a reprimand, depending on the seriousness of the issue.
“Before I take such a move, I’ll bring this up with my committee first, whether we really want to take that step forward. It has to be a collective decision,” the lawyer said, adding that any other individual lawyer was free to lodge a complaint with the disciplinary board.
Mohd Khairul, whose firm Anwar Ismail & Associates is located in Shah Alam, Selangor, published yesterday the book that criticised the practice of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group.
The legal exco of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) told Malay Mail Online today that same-sex marriage should not be legalised and neither should LGBTs be allowed to have homosexual sex.
He stressed, however, that LGBTs should not be beaten up or discriminated against because it is prohibited in Islam, even as Islamic authorities and conservative Muslim groups have repeatedly condemned the group.
When asked why he was depicted wearing court robes on the book jacket, Mohd Khairul said it was the publisher who had chosen that picture.
“That’s not my title either,” he told Malay Mail Online, adding that the publisher, PTS Media Group, had changed his original title “Membongkar Agenda Gerakan LGBT di Malaysia” (Exposing the Agenda of the LGBT Movement in Malaysia).
