Create an environment where human rights and justice is guaranteed and respected, and then you will get lawyers and judges who are committed to justice and human rights. Bernice Low's letter All's not well in the legal profession only focuses on the legal profession, but I believe that there must be changes and reforms in all aspects of society.

I concede that whether a lawyer is driven to commit to pro bono , charitable, legal aid or human rights work is ultimately dependent on their individual character and passion. It is not the forcing of lawyers into mandatory community service or legal aid work. Emphasis should be given to this formation of character and passion — and this would also include the inculcation of social awareness, civic consciousness and also a sense of justice in lawyers.

At the level of law graduates, chambering pupils and lawyers, we cannot do anything about the formation or education received at their earlier stages in life. All that we can do is to try our very best to inculcate values, principles and a sense of social justice in their hearts and minds — for if we do not do this then we will find that the numbers of lawyers who will come forward to help the poor, the oppressed and the victims of injustices diminishing as times go by.

When there is a talk, seminar or programme organised at developing legal knowledge and skills, we find that large number of lawyers and chambering students attend. On the other hand, if it is a programme on social awareness, human rights, justice and/or civic consciousness, then the numbers are significantly lower.

If numbers are our measure of success, then we too have failed to perceive the problem inflicting our society, whereby compassion, human rights and justice, which should be in the forefront, have taken a back seat.

A legal aid lawyer approaches a court lock-up filled with legally un-represented suspects (potential accused) and first asks whether there is anyone who wants to plead guilty. If there are, he then offers his services to act for him in mitigation. He then proceeds to interview the accused, and thereafter stand up in court after he has pleaded guilty and submits on why the sentence imposed should be low.

Should not the lawyer first provide advice to the suspect about his option to plead guilty or to claim trial? Should not the legal aid lawyer advise the suspect that if he were to claim trial, then if he were poor and could not afford a lawyer, he could go to the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre?

Why did he not provide advice to the suspect first, rather than just wanting to represent the ones who are going to plead guilty? The simple answer is that this legal aid lawyer wanted the experience of being able to stand up in court and submit, thus improving his advocacy skills.

This is what sometimes will happen to mandatory legal aid programmes, when emphasis is placed on legal skills and training, and not on development of social consciousness and a sense of human rights and justice. We have mistakenly made the presumption that lawyers, who are read in the law, are concerned for justice and human rights.

That legal aid lawyer, in the example above, seemed to be concerned not in the rights and justice of the suspects, but presumably acquiring and improving his advocacy and legal skills which will come to play in highly competitive market.

At this juncture, I must also state that a lawyer with a sense of justice and civic consciousness will do more harm than good if he lacks the legal skills, knowledge and training.

The Attorney-General Abdul Ghani Patail calls for lawyers to serve the public including the people who may not be able to afford legal fees, but one wonders why the government's Legal Aid Bureau does not extend its services in the defence of persons charged with criminal offences.

We must never forget the internationally recognised presumption that a person is innocent, until he is charged, tried, proven guilty and convicted by a court of law. By reason of poverty, a poor member of the public should not be deprived of the right to be represented and defended by a lawyer.

It is hoped that the learned AG will review this policy and extend the services now provided by the Legal Aid Bureau to also represent those members of the public who cannot afford a lawyer, not only during criminal trials, but also during remand proceedings.

When an accused claims trial, he will usually have the right to be released on bail. Sitting in Magistrates Courts in Kuala Lumpur, will enlighten you that it is the norm for bail to be set by the court at about RM2,000 or more with one or two sureties.

This bail amount placed in a savings account must be deposited in court, and will be there until the end of the trial of the accused. For the middle-income group and the rich, this is not a problem. But for the poor, this is beyond his means.

A plantation worker, for example has a take-home monthly wage of about RM300 to RM500, or less. Not being able to come up with bail means that this person will have to languish in the remand prison until his trial is completed.

He/she will also naturally not be able to earn an income and sustain his family and dependants. The bail is just to ensure that the accused person attends court for his case. Maybe, the need to deposit money in court should be reviewed by the learned AG and the minister concerned, for after all it could be like the "police bail" given prior to charge being levied on a person whereby no money is actually deposited, and if the conditions of the bail are breached then the government will have a right to sue the sureties for the bail amount.

It is not only getting lawyers to do pro bono work for disadvantaged sections of the community either through the Bar Council Legal Aid Centres, government's Legal Aid Bureaus or on their own that will ensure justice for all Malaysians, but there is also need for urgent legal reforms in the manner in which things are done presently in the police stations and the courts.

Likewise, in the civil courts a poor man can be stifled in his quest for justice against a rich man by the existing provisions for security for costs, numerous interlocutory applications and a long wait for a trial date, among others. The costs of filing and disbursements only can be so unbearable that a poor man will ultimately abandon his claim and his quest for justice.

Hereto, the learned AG and the relevant minister, must study the existing rules and practices of the court and strive to remove all that stands in the way of a poor man's right to justice in our Malaysian courts.

Values of justice, fair play, compassion and equality can only be sustained in an environment that supports and promotes these positive qualities. At present the Legal Profession Act 1976 creates an environment where lawyers are discriminated according to the years of practice and/or their outside involvement in political parties, trade unions and possibly some other organisations/societies that may be decided on later.

Lawyers with less than seven years practice cannot stand for elections, and cannot even participate in committees of the Bar Council or the state bars. They are deprived of their right to actively participate in the decision-making and the life of the Bar. The removal of these muzzles will create an environment of equality, justice and fair play, and, I believe, this will also help cultivate more lawyers who will serve the public, particularly the disadvantaged and oppressed persons in society.

The Malaysian Bar, and the Bar Council must also re-evaluate and reform its practice and rulings to ensure an environment of justice, equality, compassion and fair play among lawyers. When a bank officer tells the borrower that he must chose from a selected list of panel lawyers, it is not touting. When a free agent finds a client for a lawyer, it is touting.

When a large law firm allegedly shares profit with a non-lawyer, nothing seems to have been done. When a lawyer is late in paying his professional fees, he is charged double. It is all right for lawyers, mainly from the more prominent firms, to have their names and their firm names in glossy legal seminar publicity brochures circulated far and wide, and advertised but it is not all right for the small lawyer to advertise his services and specialisation in the newspapers and bulletin boards.

Among lawyers, what must stop is the under-cutting with regard to fees and professional charges that has caused many professionals just making ends meet, and barely surviving. Scaled fees and fixed costs have not been increased since 1980, but the cost of running a legal practice has skyrocketed.

Lawyers still charge a measly one percent of the purchase price for sale and purchase agreements which involves work right up to the transfer of the property, while the real estate agent charges three percent of the purchase price which is payable on the signing of the agreement. A lawyer struggling to make ends meet will not be able to afford time and resources to help the poor and oppressed.

At the end of the day, if it is the intention of the AG, Dr Rais Yatim, the Malaysian Bar and the Legal Aid Bureau, there is a need to develop lawyers with a sense of justice, compassion and human rights, and also an environment that will sustain this character and passions.

We have all had enough of "correct statements of intentions" made at the appropriate times and place, and we hope that this desire to get more and more lawyers to serve the poor, the oppressed and the disadvantaged is followed up with appropriate actions from all concerned not by "mandatory means" but voluntariness driven by a sense of compassion and justice.