by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, June 24,1991:
With $5 million profit, the Qualifying Board should continue to conduct the certificate in legal practice (CLP) course at the University of Malaya
The Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, had disclosed that the Qualifying Board which conducted the certificate in legal practice (CLP) course for law graduates, has made a profit of more than $5 million in seven years.
This created puzzlement as to why the Qualifying Board is discontinuing the course at the University of Malaya from next January as announced by Tan Sri Abu Talib, who heads the Qualifying Board. Once the Board stopped the CLP course, law graduates would have to take it up at private institutions or study by themselves.
Law graduates and the Malaysian public would have understood if not agreed with the decision by the Board to stop the CLP course if the Board has been suffered severe financial losses.
In this case, the Board has made more than $5 million after seven years operation, and money is therefore not the reason or problem.
Why then has the Board decided to discontinue the CLP? It would appear that the Board is trying to evade its public duty to the profession and the country not only to set and maintain qualifying standards for new legal practitioners, but also to help train new lawyers to meet the country’s needs, especially with the target of making Malaysia a fully developed nation by the year 2020.
In making its decision to discontinue the CLP course next January, has the Attorney-General and the Board ever considered the suitability or even readiness of private colleges to take over the conduct of such courses? If not, the Attorney-General and the Qualifying Board had not acted in a responsible manner expected of people and bodies entrusted with public duties and obligations by the nation.
With the $5 million profit, there is no reason for the Qualifying Board to discontinue its CLF, and I call on the Attorney-General and the Qualifying Board to reserve their earlier decision and continue with the CLP course at the University of Malaya.