Legal aid services only for target groups — Azalina
BANGI: The legal services provided by the Legal Aid Department ( LAD) are meant for the target groups such as recipients of 1Malaysia People’s Aid and e-Kasih.
In this regard, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, there was a need for the department to scrutinise applications from the public to ensure that only those who qualified would be accorded the services.
“Legal aid is now given according to income. For me it should not be provided to people who could afford but don’t want to use the services of private lawyers because of the higher fees,” she told a press conference after officiating a Legal Aid Convention here yesterday.
Also present was AttorneyGeneral Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.
Azalina said the proposed legal counsel for the target groups was one of the government’s efforts to transform the legal aid services scheme under the department which was set up to provide legal counsel and legal aid to eligible persons as stipulated under the Legal Aid Act 1971 [Act 26] .
According to her, those who were eligible would receive legal counsel as well as representation in court for free or at a minimum rate that is set based on the means test on the applicant.
LAD’s case registration statistics in the first quarter of this year showed that 50 to 70 per cent were syariah cases, mostly involving divorce.
Azalina said the perception that LAD only dealt with divorce cases and family affairs must also be corrected.
“LAD must go beyond civil or criminal. It can represent many other types of cases such as employment and so on,” she said. — Bernama