PETALING JAYA: The low number of voters who took part in the Bar Council election shows that most lawyers are no longer interested in the council, claims an Umno leader.
This comes after just 15% of the 25,338 ballot papers for the Bar Council election for the 2026-2027 term were returned, the lowest in the past five years.
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Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi accused the council of being politically partisan, and even being “more political” than some political parties.
“The Bar Council is too selective about the issues they champion. They turn a blind eye if individuals they do not like are subject to an unfair trial,” he said in a Facebook post.
Puad also questioned why the council did not speak out against the appointment of Tommy Thomas as attorney-general, which he said was due to political influence.
Thomas was appointed as attorney-general when Dr Mahathir Mohamad led the Pakatan Harapan government but resigned after Mahathir relinquished the top post after the administration collapsed in February 2020.
A book Thomas published in 2021 led to investigations by the police as well as a special task force which specifically probed allegations involving the judiciary, and possible exposure of government secrets, abuse of power, professional negligence, and seditious statements.
One of the declassified findings of the task force was that Thomas, as attorney-general, wanted Mahathir “to do his bidding in a manner contrary to the law” in appointing three lawyers as Court of Appeal judges.
The task force’s report also said Thomas had “powerful vested interests” in the appointment of judges, and that his move to approach Mahathir was an “attempt to use political or executive influence” to see the proposed appointments come to pass.
