The first issue of the Kuala Lumpur Bar newsletter was published in December 1994. It was then known as the 'KLBC Newsletter'. It was renamed to 'Relevan' in 1999 from the September issue onwards.Relevan has over the years, seen many improvements and updates in its cover and layout. In recent years though, one constant factor is the declining number of contributors for articles in Relevan. Past editors of Relevan have all raised the common concern of a decreasing number of contributors.
Relevan reaches out to a wide audience, mainly based here in Kuala Lumpur. This year, the Publications Committee plans to continue with the publication of 4 quarterly issues. With a print run of more than 7500 copies, copies of Relevan are sent to members of the Judiciary, members of the KL Bar, chambering students as well as to the State Bar Committee members. Therefore, Relevan represents an excellent medium to profile yourself, your area of interest or specialisation, and to advance your point of view. Members should make use of this platform and put forward articles for the Publications Committee's consideration.
In terms of the future, the Publications Committee is presently considering the idea of the setting up of a blog to act as a free online archive of the articles published. It will help to increase the profile of Relevan and the contributors, and help stimulate discussions, both through the posting of comments as well as other websites or blogs linking to individual articles.
The past issues of Relevan contain a library of knowledge which unfortunately either remain confined in hard-copy form or in a cumbersome pdf format. A blog will be archiveable and searchable. The possible downside is that you, the members and the readers, may be flooded with too many websites and blogs, what with the present Malaysian Bar website and this KL Bar Blog.
In the end, whether Relevan remains solely in its present form, or it adopts a parallel blog format, or morphs into a different form altogether in the future, the essence of Relevan will still largely depend on you, the members of the Bar, to contribute the articles and content for each issue.
Lee Shih
Chair
Publications Committee