KUCHING: Local Christian lawyers marked the commencement of the Legal Year 2024 with a special service known as the Red Mass at St Thomas’s Cathedral this morning.
The one-hour service, starting at 8 am, provided an occasion for legal professionals to seek God’s blessings and guidance for their work throughout the year.
Lawyers, dressed in their Open Court attire, participated in the service, which included the reading of the First and Second Gospel Readings by retired Judge Court of Appeal Datuk Lee Heng Choeng and High Court Judge Leonard David Shim, respectively.
Bishop of the Anglican Church in Sarawak and Brunei, Right Reverend Datuk Danald Jute also gave a sermon during service.
The Act of Commitment was read by Kota Sentosa assemblyman and lawyer Wilfred Yap during the service.
Later when met by reporters, Reverend and lawyer Datuk Bong Ah Loi, who is this year’s event organiser, said the special service enters its third edition this year.
“One of the purposes of this opening of the Legal Year is to see the importance, the role of lawyers in implementing the law.
“As the Bishop has mentioned, it is important for lawyers, who are also important agents, to help and contribute towards the justice of the land.
“So, in the church’s context, we would use the word of God to remind us of the role lawyers play in society. This is so that we can have better justice in our land,” he said.
He added the attendees are mostly from Kuching and there are about 100 lawyers attending the special service.
Meanwhile, Lawyer Arthur Lee, explained that the opening of a Legal Year is an Anglican legal tradition that started in the 11th century in the Church of England.
“This was a religious festival whereby lawyers go to church to ask for God’s blessing before the start of a Legal Year,” he said.
He added the term Legal Year means the opening and closing of the year near Christmas, with the closing referred to as Michaelmas term in the Judicial calendar.
“What happens is that in Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya, this (Red Mass) has never been a tradition.
“But the tradition has been adopted, having origins in the English Bar when Tun Datuk Seri Richard Malanjum, the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak then decided to start the beginning of the Judicial Calendar by having an opening of the Legal Year ceremony.
“However, this was always held in the Courts. And this has happened about 20 years ago and it has continued until today,” he said.
Lee said the tradition of the opening of the Legal Year in a circular manner is actually held in the Courts.
“The Anglican and Roman Catholic Church thus have also decided and realised that there is an importance that they provide support to the Legal Calendar and hold an opening of the Legal Year in the traditional or religious manner.
“So, as you can see today, today’s event started three or four years ago, with the number of attendees increasing every year,” he said.
He added the Opening of the Legal Year for Sabah and Sarawak, which normally conducted on a grander scale, alternates between the two states.
This year’s event is scheduled to take place in Sabah next week.
