Khairul Idzwan bin Kamarudzaman is the name given to me when I was born on the

22nd of May 1987 at Pantai (Baru) Klang Specialist Medical Centre in Klang,
Selangor. I am the eldest of seven siblings including two half-sisters and a half-
brother. My father is of Javanese descent while my mother is Malay. I was considered
as the biggest gift for my parents. Apart from being their first child, my mother gave
birth to me on a Friday which is considered as a good day in Islam. In addition, I was
born in the month of Ramadhan, which is the fasting month as well as the holiest
month in Islam, as I was born on 24 Ramadhan 1407 A.H. Currently, I am living in
Taman Alam Megah, which is situated at Section 28, Shah Alam.

In 1994, when I was seven years old, I started my primary education at Sekolah
Kebangsaan HICOM in Section 27, Shah Alam. In 1995, when I was about to enter
standard two, I had myself transferred to another school. My transfer was due to the
fact that a new school which is nearer to my house was built and the Education
Department instructed me to continue my studies there.

Thus, I registered myself at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Alam Megah at Section 27,
Shah Alam when I was in standard two. I had always thought that the school would be
my last school until I finished my primary education. Nevertheless, I was proven
wrong. In 1997, in the middle of standard four, history repeated itself as I was
instructed again by the Education Department to transfer myself to a new school that
is much closer to my house. Hence, I had myself transferred to Sekolah Kebangsaan
Alam Megah Dua at Section 28, Shah Alam. I studied in this school until I obtained
5As in the UPSR examination and subsequently finished my primary education in
1999.

In 2000, I continued my secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Alam

Megah at Section 27, Shah Alam. However, on the 20th of April 2000, I had myself
transferred to Sekolah Menengah Agama Persekutuan Labu in Seremban, Negeri
Sembilan which is a fully-residential school after I received an offer letter to further
my studies there. I studied at the school until 2004, which was the year I took my
SPM examination.
After obtaining my SPM results, I was offered a place to further my studies in Pre-
Law programme at Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam. After I finished the
Pre-Law programme, I continued with the Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons.)
programme. I was considered as a lucky few as after I finished my first degree, I
received an offer to continue my studies doing the Bachelor of Laws (Hons.)
programme. Presently, I am in my final semester of the programme and I hope that I
am able to finish my studies in time that is at the end of the year.

After I have finished doing the Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) programme, I intend to read
in the chambers first before joining the Attorney-General’s Chambers for a couple of
years. Then, I would like to go on for private practice. I planned to read in the
chambers first because in my opinion, the nine months period is a security for a better
future. This is due to the fact that if I read in the chambers first, I may be called to the
Bar after the pupilage period has ended. So, I have a choice either to join the
Attorney-General’s Chambers or to join the legal profession as a practicing lawyer.
Without my pupilage, I need to get the exemption by joining the Attorney-General’s
Chambers for a period longer than nine months. Thus, what if I wanted to quit four
months after joining the Chambers? It would be a waste of time and effort as I need to
read in the Chambers as if I had just graduated.

Nonetheless, I chose to join the Attorney-General’s Chambers after the pupilage as I

would like to have more experience in handling legal matters. If I garnered enough
experience at the Chambers, I might be able to practice better as a practising lawyer
with vast experience in handling justice through the law.

In my humble view, I think the legal profession is a noble profession. Apart from
helping people in terms of drafting agreements and represents clients in litigation,
lawyers are also heroes in a way that they prevent chaos from happening. Just imagine
a world without lawyers. All the agreements will be meaningless and criminals will
roam everywhere without being afraid of anyone to charge them. People will fight just
for a piece of land title and children may brawl to get the properties of their deceased
parents. The lawyers also help the people to achieve justice in a way that all the
criminals will be charged and those who claimed to be innocent will be defended.
This is inline with the term ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Nevertheless, there are some things that I wish I might be able to contribute when I
am in the legal profession. Firstly, I would like to be actively involved in the Bar
Committee and amend the rules governing the legal profession by making it
compulsory for lawyers to do pro-bono works for a couple of hours in a year such as
what is done in the United States where the American Bar Association ethical rules
require the lawyers to spend at least fifty hours of pro bono service per year. By doing
this, the under-privileged will get the benefit of consulting a lawyer for free while the
government may reduce its budget which is currently being channeled to the Legal
Aid Bureau. The lawyers, on the other hand, will have the chance to spend their
quality time consulting the people whom the lawyers might not be able to consult if
billed.

Secondly, I would like to promote the amendment of the law in order to separate the
legal duties and obligations of a solicitor with an advocate such as in the United
Kingdom through the separation of a solicitor and a barrister. This is due to the fact
that in my opinion, lawyers in Malaysia are much burdened with workloads as from
the start until the end of a case, the paper works as well as all the litigation matters are
handled by a single lawyer. Although it may not be viable to do this now as the
number of lawyers are limited, it may be possible in the near future when the number
of lawyers is enough. In addition, the solicitor or the advocate may focus on their job
as they are going to concentrate on either job; paper works or litigation.

Lastly, I would also like to urge all relevant parties to be unified in order to ensure
that the Syariah law is uniformed and standardized to make it better. Even though
Syariah law is state matter, there is no harm in amending all the relevant Enactments
so that all the provisions are similar. A uniformed and standardized Syariah law will
make it more respectable by all parties and people will no longer treat Syariah law as
a second class of laws.