PUTRAJAYA, Jan 11 — The government should mull providing legal aid services for groups such as foreign workers and refugees, the Malaysian Bar suggested today.
Malaysian Bar president George Varughese also mooted that two government-backed legal aid providers be combined.
“The Bar has also renewed its call for the establishment of a comprehensive legal aid scheme, by merging the two primary providers of legal aid in the country — the Legal Aid Department and the National Legal Aid Foundation, both of which are government-funded — into a single provider.
“We also hope that the new government, and the chair of the Foundation, will consider expanding the scope of the provision of legal aid to cover migrant workers, refugees, and unrepresented accused in the Appellate courts,” he said in his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year 2019.
