The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Malacca Bar Committee was held on 27 February 2009 (Friday) at Malacca Straits Hotel at 4:00pm.
The Chairman Mr. Ng Kong Peng called the meeting to order at 4:10pm when the quorum was reached. Being a relatively small state bar, it was an overwhelming response when 68 young and senior members of the Malacca Bar turned up for the AGM.
Our incumbent chairman started off with the relevant items on the agenda. The audited accounts, minutes of the AGM year 2008 and the annual reports of the various committees were adopted without much hassle.
The next item on the agenda was the fixing of annual subscription for year 2009. The floor was then opened for members to air their views on the particular issue. Many members were of the view that due to inflation and tough economic challenges, the current RM160-00 should be reduced by RM10-00 or even RM20-00. Nevertheless, there were still a group of members who proposed to maintain the current amount of RM160-00. The proposals were then put to vote. Ng who had the casting vote decided to maintain the present amount of RM160-00 for year 2009.
Ng then proceeded with the election of office bearers. First up on the list was the election of the Malacca Bar Committee Chairman. Nominations were called for from the floor and as anticipated, the first and only nomination received was for Ng Kong Peng. There being no other nominations, Ng was returned unopposed as the Chairman of the Malacca Bar for the fourth term.
Next came the elections for the Committee members. Seven names were proposed, and as there was no contest for the election of committee members, the seven names proposed were nominated by the members. The new members namely Karen Cheah, Fatima bte Tahir, Surendran Chelvarajah and Shashi Kumar Kannan will be serving together with familiar faces of Sekar Palaniandy, Fiona Tan and Nizam Bashir. Jaspal Singh was nominated as the Malacca Bar Representative to the Bar Council as R.R. Chelvarajah decided not to stand for election. Jaspal Singh was duly elected the same. A round of applause was given for the elected office bearers.
Ng extended his appreciation to the outgoing committee members and Chelvarajah for their time and dedication in serving the Bar. The chairman also commended Sekar Palaniandy and the sports committee as well as all members of the Bar for their hard work and commitment in organizing the Malaysia & Singapore Bench and Bar Games 2008 which was a success.
Other issues affecting the Bar that were raised concern the putting up of a central board for court listings with regards to cases heard before Deputy Registrar and Senior Assistant Registrar, the arrangement of additional parking lots located behind the court premises and the Chief Justice of Malaysia’s directive stating that cases once started must be completed. Ng further informed members of the meeting with the Malacca PTG on 16 March 2009 on conveyancing matters and would keep members informed of any updates.
There being no other matters, the meeting ended at 5:30pm. The Chairman thanked all members for their presence and participation. Members then adjourned for high tea.
(548)