Loyar Buruk Loyar Burok Loyar Beruk LB

Memang benar bahawa selalunya terdapat golongan kecil atau minoriti dalam setiap profesion yang akan memburuk-burukkan nama dan reputasi profesion tersebut. Tingkahlaku minoriti akan dilihat sebagai satu representasi profesion tersebut secara amnya.

Profesion guaman tidak terkecuali. Profesion kami seringkali dipersendakan dengan jenaka-jenaka berkenaan tabiat dan kelakuan peguam-peguam. Sukar juga bagi orang melihat kebaikan Badan Peguam manakala keburukan atau kelemahan Badan sering diperbesarkan. Terdapatnya ramai peguam-peguam Malaysia yang telah bertungkus-lumus membela hak-hak rakyat serta memberikan khidmat guaman secara percuma, sebagai contoh.

Mujurlah, ada yang meluahkan pendapat bahawa walau apa pun, masyarakat memerlukan khidmat peguam-peguam, lihat ‘Irked or intrigued, we need our lawyers around’ oleh Johan Jaafar (20 Disember 2008, New Straits Times):

Strange people, the lawyers. They think differently from the rest of us. Legal logic connotes the process of reasoning. Their “brief” can be as long as a short novel in terms of words. Nothing is left without interpretation. They live and breathe the system of rules enforced through a set of institutions.

The body of rules and guides that governs society at large is meant to ensure and administer justice. They serve their clients to perform legal services. They uphold the principles of law. For any of you who are perplexed as to why a lawyer would take up the case of an alleged killer or rapist, the principle in any criminal case is that one is innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

We need them. The legal system consists of elaborate documents that are both interpretative and complex. Lawyers make sense out of those dense, impenetrable classics they call legal documents. They agree to disagree on almost everything.

In fact, they have perfected the art of disagreeing to an art form. There is such a thing as a notion of equality, fairness, liberty and justice. And, of course, the age-old principle of everyone is equal in the eye of the law.

Secara kebetulan, dalam artikel tersebut, penulis merujuk kepada nama yang seakan-akan sama dengan ‘blawg’ ini, dan juga membuat hujahan mengapa peguam-peguam adalah dalam kedudukan yang paling baik untuk menceburi bidang politik:

If you are a lawyer, chances are you will succeed in politics. Perhaps clarity of thought, debating style, technique of arguing or pure rhetoric make them more convincing than the rest. If they can argue a case, however remotely slim the chances in court, they have no problem articulating a political position to the masses. The Malays even have a simpulan bahasa (proverb) for them, loyar buruk, to mean one who argues a lot.

(penekanan oleh saya)

Mungkinkah penulis telah membaca fikiran kalangan beberapa peguam-peguam aktivis yang sedang berbincang kemungkinan menubuhkan sebuah parti politik berdasarkan perjuangan ‘memartabatkan’ kedaulatan undang-undang, hak-hak asasi manusia dan sistem demokrasi di Malaysia?

Ataupun adakah pendapat tersebut hanya secara kebetulan sahaja?