The Intricacies Of Legal Aid – Who Is Eligible And How?

Ipoh Echo interviews M. Gokoolaram Naidu (Ram), Executive Legal Officer of Perak Legal Aid Centre & Human Rights Committee.

Ipoh Echo: Give us an overview of the Perak Legal Aid Centre.

Ram: The Bar Council Legal Aid Centre of Perak was formed in late 1984. When I joined the Centre I had to work from inside my car because, besides a founding Chairman and committee, there was no office for me to work in. We toiled to get an office lot at the Central Market complex. It did not matter if the office space was small, as our main objective was to reach out to the people. Flyers, posters and ads were used to inform Ipohites of the new service available in town. I went to courts, police stations and government departments distributing leaflets. The Centre was officially opened on March 11, 1985. Since then, we have been instrumental in reaching out to almost 7,000 clients. There are currently 15 Bar Council Legal Aid Centres in Peninsular Malaysia, one in each state.

IE: What is the difference between your centre and Biro Bantuan Guaman?

Ram: There’s always confusion over our management. In Malaysia there are two legal aid schemes, namely the Legal Aid Bureau or Biro Bantuan Guaman and the Bar Council Legal Aid Scheme.

The Legal Aid Bureau is a government-funded scheme administered by the Prime Minister’s Department. The Bar Council Legal Aid Scheme is a programme of the Malaysian Bar. It was set up in the early 1980s, and services offered are pro bono.

The Malaysian Bar is the only national bar association in the world that finances and runs its own legal aid scheme. Every member of the Malaysian Bar is required to contribute RM100 towards the scheme. As more centres open up and as the Bar Council reaches out to a larger audience, the yearly budget has begun to exceed the financial contribution of members. Thus we are now looking for alternate sources of funding so that we can remain effective.

IE: Is there a clash of interest between the two?

Ram: No, the Bar Council scheme complements the Government Legal Aid Scheme. The Council believes that access to justice is an important and integral part of the Rule of Law. Section 28A (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and Article 5(3) of the Federal Constitution guarantee an arrested individual’s right to access a legal practitioner of his or her choice. This is what the Bar Council defends tirelessly. This scheme also responds to the lack of support in cases of public interest litigation by assisting individuals or groups seeking justice, especially marginalised groups.

The Bar Council believes that legal aid is a fundamental human right. Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that all are equal before the law and Article 10, which says that everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing are empty platitudes if the public have no means to engage a lawyer.

IE: Who qualifies for legal aid and what are the criteria?

Ram: The eligibility of a person is subject to a simple ‘means test’. The net monthly income, after deduction of expenses, must not exceed RM500 for a single person and RM800 for a married couple. That is the Bar council’s threshold figure, subject to the exercise of discretion. The other criteria are a house worth not more than RM25,000 (low-cost house), car worth not more than RM7,000, motorcycle worth not more than RM4,000, and savings not more than RM5,000.

The service is free. However, clients are urged to contribute travelling expenses if they can afford, as Perak is huge and the courts span from Tanjong Malim to Parit Buntar.

IE: What types of cases does the centre handle?

Ram: We handle all types of cases – criminal, family and labour/employment matters. There are, however, restrictions on certain cases like debt collection, motor accidents and bankruptcy. Together with our dedicated volunteer lawyers we provide both legal representations in courts in civil and criminal matters, as well as legal advice on problems faced by the poor.

In addition to this, the Perak Legal Aid Centre also conducts outreach programmes where we help educate ordinary Malaysian about their rights. To me a truly effective legal aid programme is not just passive but pro-active; it not only takes up individual cases on behalf of affected parties but also educates the community at large on its rights and liberties. We are also partnering with NGOs in order to reach out to specific groups of disadvantaged persons by conducting forums, talks, seminars, law awareness programmes and legal aid booths.

We are also in the forefront of promoting law awareness among the Orang Asli communities. Since starting the project we have travelled extensively throughout the state and observed exhaustively the conditions of these people in order to help improve them.

IE: Poor publicity is a bane. What are your comments?

Ram: Publicity has always been an objective matter because often one reads about us today and forgets the next day and on the day when they need our assistance they go looking for us. I believe a community newspaper such as the IPOH ECHO is the best solution for this as people can be reminded of our services every fortnight.

IE: What about funding?

Ram: Like I stressed earlier, due to limited funding this is the maximum we can do for now. However, I feel there’s more we can do for the community provided we have an alternate source of funds. We hope well-wishers would respond in kind.

Fathol Zaman Bukhari

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