The Kuala Lumpur Bar Blog

The External Liaison Committee (" ELC "), a committee under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur young Lawyers Committee (" KLYLC ") embarked on its last visit for the year when the volunteer lawyers visited Taylor's University College (" Taylors ") on 31.10.2009. The volunteer lawyers that attended the workshop in Taylors were Lai Chee Hoe, Sandesh Kabir, Fam Yu Min, Kenneth Wong Poh Lim, Chan Kit Keong, Andrew Liew, Samuel, Choo Mun Wai, Aston Paiva, and Foong Cheng Leong. The session, which was attended by over 30 first year law students, was lively and interactive. The session was opened by Sandesh Kabir delivering a short welcoming speech to the students explaining the objectives of the visit i.e. to manage their expectations in view of practicing law in future. The students were then segregated into different tutorial halls and the volunteer lawyers were dispatched into the respective halls to proceed with workshop agenda. During the works

The Civil Court Liaison Committee is pleased to announce that arrangements have been made with a shuttle service operator to provide shuttle service to and from the MATRADE car park and the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex. The service has commenced on 16.11.2009 (Monday) . The shuttle service will run from Mondays to Fridays, from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. The cost of the service is RM1.00 for a two-way ticket. All members attending Court are strongly encouraged to park at the MATRADE car park and utilise the shuttle service to get to the Court Complex to help ease the traffic congestion and parking problem at the Court Complex. The parking fee at the MATRADE car park is RM2.50 for the first hour and RM1.00 for every subsequent hour or part thereof to a maximum charge of RM5.00. With this in place, vehicles will no longer be allowed to be parked along the side of the roads leading to the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex. Those found to be parking their vehicles along the

By Bar Council Human Rights Committee It’s that time of the year again when the Bar Council, Malaysia puts together an annual event to commemorate International Human Rights Day. This year’s theme is “Our Children. Our Hope. Our Future”, in recognition of our role not merely as custodians of society but also as those who shape its values. We believe that every child has economic, social and cultural rights, related to the conditions necessary to meet his or her basic human needs such as food, shelter, education and healthcare. Therefore, we are holding a Children’s Homes Fundraising Dinner this year, whereby proceeds will go to seven children’s homes - Desa Amal Jireh, The Pure Life Society, Gurpuri Foundation, Rumah Solehah, An-Najjah, All Ethnic Group Refugee Children Education Centre and Rumah Sayangan. Donations received will help to maintain and improve the conditions of the homes and create a better environment for the children, some of whom are orphans or living with HIV/AIDS an

FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON THE NET - AN ILLUSION OR REALITY? By Joanna Loy In an unprecedented development which occurred on 13 March 2009, six persons were charged under Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (“CMA”) and Section 34 of the Penal Code for posting various comments relating to the Sultan of Perak on various websites on the Internet. Section 233(1) of the CMA inter alia renders it an offence to make or initiate the transmission of any obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive comment or communication with the intention to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person. One of the accused pleaded guilty and was fined RM10,000-00. The others, from various parts of the country, are claiming trial. Malaysians will recall that about 7 months ago, all 21 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country were ordered by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (“MCMC”) to block the controversial Malaysia Today website. Approximately t

Unravelling Practical Issues Surrounding Thin Capitalisation Law in Malaysia by S. Saravana Kumar It has been several months since the legislation of thin capitalisation law in Malaysia [1] . The announcement on the introduction of thin capitalisation law was first made in August 2008 by then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his Budget 2009 speech. Although the government did not initiate any public discourse on this matter, the announcement did not come as a surprise. The local tax industry was abuzz with the government’s intention to introduce thin capitalisation law. Unfortunately, there was no explanation from the authorities as to the need for such law in Malaysia . This is all the more necessary as other trading nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (or Asean) region such as Singapore , Vietnam , Thailand and Indonesia do not have or intend to introduce such legislation in the near future. Both the Budget 2009 speech and Hansard (i.e. minutes o