Four-point plan on CLP scam:  suspension of the nullification of  the CLP exam results this year,  an independent audit to review the marking of all the  CLP papers to rectify any marks-tampering, the dismissal of CLP examination director Khalid Yusof and public inquiry into CLP scandal


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya, Monday): The shocking revelation by the Brickfields College principal R. Raja Singam that the Legal Profession Qualifying Board knew of the leak in the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination in October beforehand, and yet did nothing, has shaken public confidence in the Qualifying Board, the board’s executive staff responsible for the conduct of the examination and the very integrity of the CLP to the  very core.

Raja Singam said that on October 6, two days before the supplementary CLP examination, he submitted copies of the Evidence paper he intercepted to the Attorney-General Datuk Seri Ainum Mohd Saaid, DPP Vong Poh Fah, Bukit Aman police, 10 senior lawyers and a local daily.

It is also most shocking that Raja Singam had submitted a report of the CLP exam leak to the Qualifying Board last year, but he was told to provide evidence that the leaks actually occurred - a colossal abdication of responsibility on  the part of the Qualifying Board to tighten internal checks and balances to uphold the credibility and integrity of the examination.

The latest concern which has arisen from the CLP examination papers scam is that candidates who should have passed  the CLP this year had been victimised because of marks-tampering by the syndicate involving insiders selling the leaked CLP papers - as by lowering the marks of those who should have passed in order to “make way” for those who bought the papers.
DAP calls for  the establishment of an independent audit by reputable professionals, whether in the academia or in the profession, to review  the marking of all the  CLP papers this year to rectify any marks-tampering resulting in students deserving to pass being  deliberately failed by the syndicate merchandising the leaked exam papers.  The audit panel should be empowered to award passes to candidates who had been failed as a result of such  marks-tampering.

The gross injustice of the leaked CLP exam papers must not be compounded by the new injustice of penalising innocent, honest and hardworking candidates as a result of the indiscriminate nullification of the CLP exam results this year.

The  25.19 per cent  clear passes for the CLP this year or 232 of the total of 921 candidates is the lowest  pass rate in the 17-year  history of the CLP.  The pass rate for the CLP examination was 80 per cent  during its first year in 1984, but  it dropped seriously in the last few years to 30 per cent, registering 40.01 per cent  in 1995, 38.56 per cent in 1996, 45.75 per cent in 1997 and 32.85 per cent last year.

If the CLP passes this year are the result of rampant examination paper leaks, why then is the pass rate this year lowest when compared to previous  years?  This question calls for a satisfactory answer from the Qualifying Board.

The whole conduct of the CLP examination, and the manner the Qualifying Board had handled  the exam papers scam after its expose in utter disregard of the emotional trauma suffered by  innocent CLP candidates, stink to high heaven and is a thorough discredit and disgrace to the professionalism, competence and sense of justice of the Board members.

As a first step to restore public confidence in the CLP and the Qualifying Board, DAP calls for a four-point formula:
 


(19/11/2001)



*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman