Rosli Dahlan wins international lawyers award

Award citation recognises his contribution to developing international trade law and working as human rights lawyer.

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior lawyer Rosli Dahlan’s week ended considerably better than it began when he bagged an award at an international lawyers meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

Rosli was scheduled to be in the High Court here earlier this month for the continued trial of his long-drawn civil action against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), its chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed, former Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail and several others.

He had, however, to concede to an adjournment of the trial on account of the untimely death of DPP Kevin Anthony Morais, also a defendant in that suit.

Rosli suffered a further setback early last week when it was reported that Morais’ family was refusing to claim his remains pending a second autopsy to determine the cause of death after suspected irregularities noted by them in the first.

Taking the opportunity to attend the annual general meeting of the International Lawyers Association (Interlaw), of which his firm Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill is the sole jurisdictional member, Rosli was voted from a pool of 7,000 lawyers worldwide as Interlawyer of the Year 2015 at the association’s gala night held on October 23.

The award was a first not only for a legal practitioner from Malaysia but the Asia Pacific Region as well.

Delivering the award, Interlaw Chairman Michael Seibold said that it had not been given out in recent years as its criteria called for the recognition of an individual with outstanding qualities as a lawyer who had contributed to the organisation and his community.

Rosli, he added, fulfilled those requirements immensely.

The award citation spoke of Rosli’s work in developing international trade law among the member countries.

The Interlaw Board also recognised Rosli’s commitment as a human rights lawyer in Malaysia, noting that he had fought against religious bigotry and corruption, and advanced constitutional and fundamental rights and sought to uphold the Rule of Law without fear or favour, even at his own peril.

Speaking to FMT yesterday, Rosli dedicated his award to all Malaysians.

“I hope that it will be seen as a breath of fresh air and bring the country some positive recognition at a time of much negativity brought on by high profile corruption scandals and the choking haze,” the lawyer said.

He also took time to sympathise with Morais’ family, saying that their claims of an incomplete and inaccurate autopsy reflect badly on the MACC, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Government as it suggests that they were using his death to delay proceedings.

Interlaw is an international network of independent full service corporate law firms which membership consists of more than 80 firms covering 125 cities with more than 7000 lawyers globally.