The Selangor Bar Chairman Lecture Series 2020 by Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai: ‘Enforced Disappearances’

Speaker

Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai was called to the English Bar as a Barrister-at-Law in 1971 and to the Malaysian Bar as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in July 1972.

From 1973 to 1985, Dato’ Mah served in the Judicial and Legal Services of Malaysia as a Magistrate, Sessions Court Judge, Senior Assistant Registrar, Deputy Public Prosecutor, Senior Federal Counsel and Senior Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman.

Dato’ Mah obtained his Master of Laws degree with Honours in 1985 from the University of Sydney, Australia and in 1999 was appointed a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Sydney.

Dato’ Mah was elected President of the Malaysian Bar from 2001 to 2003 and President of LAWASIA from 2006 to 2008. On 4.1.2010 Dato’ Mah was appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya and on 10.8.2011 a Judge of the High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal, Malaysia on 21.9.2012.

Dato’ Mah returned to MahWengKwai & Associates as a Consultant upon his retirement from the Judiciary in February 2015. Dato’ Mah is a Member of the Advisory Panel of the Faculty of Syariah and Law of the Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) and an Adjunct Professor (Law and Government) at HELP University.

He is a Director on the Board of Directors of Assunta Hospital and a Legal Consultant to St. Johns Ambulance Malaysia. He is on the Asian International Arbitration Centre’s (formerly the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration) panel of arbitrators and is certified as a mediator by the Malaysian Mediation Centre. Dato’ Mah has sat as an arbitrator in numerous cases at AIAC, hearing both AIAC and ad hoc appointed cases, as well as by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. The subject matter of the cases dealt with include inter alia, building and construction contracts, sale and purchase of shares, telecommunication contracts, marine dredging and others.

Dato’ Mah currently serves as a Commissioner in the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). He also served as a Commissioner in the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) from April 2016 to April 2019. He continues to serve as a Commissioner for the term 2019 to 2022.

Dato’ Mah was appointed a Member of the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC) established by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), after the 14th General Elections of Malaysia in May 2018, to make recommendations for institutional reforms in the country. He is currently serving as a member of the Special Committee set up by the de facto Law Minister on the proposed abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Malaysia.