Over the weekend of 16th -17th April 2011, 36 new and old members of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Young Lawyers Committee (KLYLC) participated in a retreat at Bukit Gambang Resort City Kuantan, Pahang. Nestled within the secondary jungle in Gambang, Kuantan, the resort provided the perfect environment for the retreat.
Despite a rainy Saturday morning, it did not dampen the spirits of the enthusiastic participants who all gathered at the BHP Petrol Station, Gombak before leaving together in a convoy of 9 cars. After a 3-hour drive through the East Coast Highway, the participants arrived safely at the resort.
After a scrumptious buffet lunch at the resort’s coffee house, the next agenda for the retreat was a session where participants were asked to list down the problems affecting themselves as young lawyers, problems in relation to the BAR and the nation as a whole. Amongst the problems which affected themselves as young lawyers were problems concerning low wages/salary, long working hours and heavy workload, no proper guidance/mentoring by senior lawyers, feeling unappreciated, office politics etc.
Richard Wee, newly elected chairman of the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council was kind enough to take some time off his busy schedule to take part in the retreat, where he conducted a training session with the participants.
As evening approached, participants were told that the jungle trekking session had to be postponed as that evening was darker than usual, hence making it unsafe to proceed. Later that night, before the start of the brainstorming session on aspirations and hopes for the KLYLC, participants were all blindfolded in an activity to walk towards a ‘voice’. The activity basically taught the participants the importance of teamwork and working together in finding the voice. The night ended with a campfire session.
On Sunday morning, participants were divided into 3 groups for the obstacle challenges and outdoor team building activities organised by the resort. Needless to say, this was in fact one of the highlights of the retreat. The retreat’s finale was a session led by Kenneth Wong where he unveiled the plans and aspirations for the KLYLC for the upcoming year of 2011.
As participants headed back to Kuala Lumpur around 2pm, it goes without saying that all 36 participants parted with better ties fostered, more focused on the expectations for the KLYLC, highly motivated and energised to contribute to the Bar.
Web report prepared by Johnson Lim, YL.Net Unit of the KLYLC