Siu Lin, who was already serving as the KL Bar honorary secretary, beat off two other contenders for the position for the 2017/2018 term.
In her manifesto, Siu Lin, who is also the president of the Association of Women Lawyers, had pledged to ensure that her committee members are multiracial, multireligious, coming from both genders and are of varying seniority.
Among other things, Siu Lin said she planned to form a new “Gender, Equity and Diversity” sub-committee to address the needs of women, disabled and indigenous lawyers and to also pursue the provision of dedicated parking lots at the Kuala Lumpur court complex for those who are disabled, pregnant or have health issues.
According to a Twitter post by lawyer Syahredzan Johan, the election results means that the KL Bar will be sending "an all female team" to the Bar Council for the first time.
The Bar Council — which is the governing body of the Malaysian Bar which represents all lawyers in Peninsular Malaysia — includes both the chairman and state Bar representative of each state Bar. The BarCouncil 2016/2017 line-up of 38 members includes 24 of such state Bar representatives and state Barchairs.