Poor get better access to justice with legal aid foundation, says Bar president

More poor people, including foreigners, now have better access to justice with the National Legal Aid Foundation which has so far represented arrested persons in about 75% of all remand hearings, Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong said.

Started in April 2012 with a grant from the government, the foundation has since assisted about 280,000 Malaysians from the arrest to trial stages in criminal proceedings over the last 32 months, which Leong described an "amazing statistic" when compared to the lack of access to legal recourse for 80% of those facing trial for criminal cases before this.

"This is an amazing statistic when we consider that prior to the setting up of the foundation, the majority of such arrested persons did not have legal representation at remand hearings.

"It has truly made access to justice a reality for thousands of persons caught in the web of our criminal justice system," said the outgoing president who has helmed the Bar since 2013.

Leong said the foundation had changed the landscape of the criminal justice system and may pave the way to a comprehensive government-funded legal aid system.

The suggestion to set up the foundation arose during a meeting between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Bar in early 2010, Leong said.

During the meeting, Najib was informed that an estimated 80% of those tried in court for criminal offences did not have legal representation.

"The prime minister was shocked with the revelation and he agreed that a foundation should be set up to assist the poor," he told The Malaysian Insider.

Leong said the government had also provided a launching grant of RM5 million to start the foundation.

The foundation is governed by a board of directors chaired by the Attorney-General. Others include the heads of the Bar Council, Sabah Law Association and Sarawak Advocates Association.

Director-General of Legal Affairs Division at the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Saripuddin Kasim had said the those with a household income of less than RM25,000 a year would be eligible for legal aid from the foundation.

Fees would only be imposed on those with a household income of more than RM25,000 a year.

Leong said the foundation had also decided to extend legal representation to foreigners who were below the age of 18 and described this as a "significant step".

It is in line with Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution which provided that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law, including foreigners, he noted.

Since 1978 until the foundation was established, the Bar had its own self-funded legal aid committee which gave pro bono legal representation to those from poor financial backgrounds in the peninsula.

With limited resources, the Bar was only able to provide legal aid to an average of 25,000 people a year.

With the foundation, however, the Bar has been able to expand its services and can now give legal aid to about 105,000 people a year.

Leong said lawyers who provided legal services through the foundation would receive only nominal payments since providing such assistance was part of their social responsibility.

In the early stages of the foundation's set up, emphasis was given to training lawyers to undertake criminal legal aid work and to extending the foundation's service to remand centres and courts around the peninsula.

Now, after two-and-a-half years, the Bar and the the board's foundation have begun to put in place more stringent measures to enhance the quality of representation provided by lawyers.

He said a revamped accreditation process would require lawyers to sit for and pass a written assessment before they were eligible to handle arrest, remand, bail and mitigation, as well as criminal trial advocacy training.

Leong said the foundation had also assisted families of the passengers on flight MH370 with applications for the requisite death certificates premised on a presumption of death.

"The majority of the applications were made on behalf of the next-of-kin who are not Malaysians," he said. – January 24, 2015.