Make CLP exam more transparent

I AM writing in regards to the mechanisms governing the CLP examination which are conducted in Malaysia annually. I feel that the exam is a discriminatory means against overseas graduates.

I only ask that the exam be more transparent and fair. Every semester, an average of 70% to 80% of the candidates fail the exam.

I am in the midst of studying for this exam. In Malaysia, this examination is surrounded by extraneous influences that tend to colour the issue of fairness.

More often that not, it isn’t the academic standard of the candidate but the ethnicity which matters. Furthermore, the majority of CLP students have been awarded law degrees from prestigious foreign universities which are intentionally acknowledged to be of reasonable standard while local university students are not required to sit for this exam.

Is the legal qualifying board trying to imply that our public university law graduates are better qualified to practice than foreign university graduates?

Personally, I think the CLP is a healthy learning process for whosoever having the intention to come back and practice law locally if it is fairly conducted.

I do not ask for the abolishment of such an exam. However, the standard should be maintained and such standard should not be intentionally and arbitrarily set to ensure that only a few students would be able to pass the exam. As it is, many talented aspiring lawyers are being deprived of a chance to practice law.

I am glad that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has taken up the law portfolio. Please do something to improve the conduct of this examination as it is closely knitted to the judiciary’s integrity.

Evelyn Ng
The Star (Letters Section)