Dato’ Thomas, you have been in legal practise for nearly 60 years. What inspired you to become a lawyer?

I will disappoint you with my answer as it was not a result of any inspiration. It was 1952, I was in the middle of schooling at the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur.

I was only thinking of my life in KL and enjoying my schooling, with no idea of what England was like. In 1952, shortly after the war and five years from Independence, things were very different. England was a long way away.

Hardly any parents would send their children to school in England. It would take 30 hours and four or five stops by plane, and three weeks by boat to get to England. I was 14 years old and my father said to me:

“I am sending you to school in England.”

My younger brother Alex and I were the youngest in a big family, so we just obeyed and did what my father wanted even though we were nervous. In my time, children simply obeyed their parents.

At that time, as a Chinese family, we did not even use fork and spoon when eating – we used chopsticks. The first time we were eating the Western style and wearing ties and jackets was in England. So, we went to a public school (which I must say I did not enjoy) and I survived. Then, my father said”:

“I want you to go to Cambridge University and read law – if you can get into Cambridge”.

And when I asked

“Why?”

he said:

“Law is very useful. Even if you don’t want to become a lawyer, there are many things you can do with a law degree – business or politics, for example.”

Actually, my father had planned all along that by sending us to school in England, it would be easier for us to get into Cambridge University, where he had attended before.I managed to pass my exams and got into Cambridge to read law. But I did not have any idea about legal practise and reading law was as good as any subject. I used to marvel at how some of the English boys took to the subject so naturally. Those days, the thinking of parents was for their children to be lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers or teachers. There wasn’t much choice. I enjoyed myself at university and managed to get my degrees at Cambridge and was called to the English Bar and then completed my pupillage in London.

I got an inkling of what lawyers did during my pupillage as I followed my Pupil Master to the courts. I also sat in their chambers and saw how the barristers worked. They shared rooms, except for the Head of the Chambers. They shared one chief clerk, a junior clerk and a secretary. All expenses were shared, with the Seniors paying more than the Juniors.

When I returned to Malaysia afterwards in 1961, I was still very young and immature in thoughts but luckily for me, I was admitted to pupillage by the firm called Bannon and Bailey – a very old firm established in 1917. You must understand that in the nine years that I was in England, I had only returned home three times so frankly, I was not acquainted with the legal or political developments in the country.

My father was at that time so busy he wrote to my brother and me only once a month and never visited us, and our holidays were spent with a holiday home in England. My brother and I spent a lot of time away from our parents. Such a contrast to these days when children are so well looked after and spoilt. In the beginning, it was lonely, but the human spirit is strong.I quickly learned to use Mallal’s Digest and legal precedents. I was very lucky because my companion in pupillage was a young lawyer called Chan Sek Keong, a top student from Singapore. He taught me a lot about Malaysian law. As you may know, he eventually became the Attorney-General of Singapore, and then the Chief Justice of Singapore, until he retired a few years ago.

Shortly after I was employed by Bannon and Bailey, all of a sudden, we were informed that the firm was dissolving due to serious differences between three of the partners and the Senior Partner.

The firm was dissolved and three of the partners founded a firm called Skrine & Co using John Skrine’s name. At this time, Chan Sek Keong went off to Singapore to Braddell Brothers and later became a famous person and I was employed by Skrine & Co. So my models as lawyers were three British partners in Skrine & Co, John Skrine, Peter Mooney and Stanley Peddie. If you ask any of the lawyers who were with Skrine & Co, they would say the same thing about these three. They were the ones that instilled in me the importance of integrity and honesty and hard work – they never tolerated anything otherwise, so we grew with that culture. I grew up to really admire them; they were really generous in the way they allowed Malaysians to come up and prosper in the firm.John Skrine was a solicitor and a very civic-minded person.

He contributed a lot of time serving charities and the Church. He was the Chairman of the Board of Governors of a girl’s school and also a leader at the Bar Council and served them for many years, turning down offers to be the Chairman who he felt should be a Malaysian. He was a great lover of our forests and wildlife, and supported their causes. Stanley Peddie was both solicitor and barrister. Extremely methodical and meticulous, I admired him for his patience. Peter Mooney was the ex-Attorney General for Sarawak and set very high standards as an Advocate and for written opinions.

He also contributed a lot to the Bar Council, the Church and many charities and donated a lot of money.John Skrine’s passion and hobbies were horses and polo. Peddie was an international bridge player, and Peter Mooney was a concert standard pianist and devout Catholic, serving the Church and many charities. Their only common interest was the practise, which they devoted themselves to unselfishly and even though their thinking was not alike, they had greatest respect for each other because they were highly principled persons and their principles did not differ. I cannot speak highly enough about them.

You come from a distinguished background as your father was our first Finance Minister and you would have had many opportunities to interact with leading personalities at the time. Can you please share these experiences with us and how they shaped your subsequent dealings as a corporate lawyer?

My father knew most of the senior lawyers and corporate leaders and so introductions to them were not difficult. Of the lawyers that most impressed me (other than the partners in Skrine & Co) foremost was a lawyer called Ramani who was then Chairman of the Bar Council. I must say, the way he practised as a barrister reminded me so much of the top British barristers – his style, eloquence and intellect. However, he was not a particularly cheerful person – he hardly smiled and was not particularly tolerant of people, but I admired his appearance in court. He suffered from ill health, and understandably he was not cheerful. Later he would be our Representative to the United Nations, where he distinguished himself.Of course, Peter Mooney and Stanley Peddie were also top, eminent barristers. At that time, I also remember David Marshall and Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, the Seenivasagam brothers in Ipoh, Eusoffe Abdoolcader in Penang and Robert Chelliah in KL. At this time of history, there were only a few hundred lawyers compared to thousands now, so it was actually a fairly quiet profession – a lot of room for progression. I was quite immature when I started out, and I really grew up in practise and developed myself, rather than becoming an instant lawyer, unlike young people nowadays with their involvements in internships and pupillage, who are much more savvy and educated; I was not and I learnt as I went along. Senior lawyers were always too busy to teach you, we just had to learn from assisting them and reading through their files.Yes, because of my father, I met many important persons, but as a young person, just listened and kept quiet. To me, the person I liked and admired most was our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. He had that warmth and good humour about him and he could relate to all kinds of people. But he could also be tough. He was truly a Prince amongst people and cared for all Malaysians. I felt truly honoured to hold his hand as he got into his car – when he was very old. Another politician I respected was Tun Dr Ismail. They say, if he had lived long enough to be Prime Minister, the country would have been better for that. I remember being drawn in a golf competition to play against him. I was absolutely terrified to meet him as he had a stern and forbidding demeanour. But he turned out to be a very nice and sporting person who conceded defeat with a smile and generous handshake. Another outstanding person was Tun Suffian, who became a judge at a very early age and became Lord President. Such a nice and friendly man and very principled judge. But then politicians and top civil servants at the time were much more principled and multiracial. The Tunku was never good at his law exams, but I think he surpassed most lawyers. He was like Nelson Mandela, able to see the big picture and magnanimous. Unlike some countries, thanks to Tunku, we had a very smooth and effective transition after Independence. Many British and other foreigners were allowed to remain in the civil service, judiciary, armed forces, police, schools, voluntary organisations and businesses for a few years during which time Malaysians gradually took over the positions. Also, many foreign companies continued to be run by their own people for a few years, which gave the business community and our economy stability and confidence. And personally, during this time, I also benefitted by having clients who were British, Australian, American and others. I also remember that the best years I had at my golf club, The Royal Selangor Golf Club, were when there was this international community mixing with the locals. Led by Tunku and his senior Ministers, they played golf with Royalties, Diplomats, senior civil servants, business people and the ordinary members. It was the best of times. And I made a lot of friends at the club.