ELABORATE BRIEFLY ON YOUR BACKGROUND AND YOUR STRENGTH AND

WEAKNESS.

My name is Muhammad Ashraff Bin Mohd Diah and I was born on 2nd November 1986 in Perlis.
Currently I am staying with my family in Jitra Kedah. I have a big family consists of 7 siblings
and my parents. I am the second from it.

My father works as an accountancy lecturer in University Utara Malaysia. He’s been there for
more than 25 years already. On the other hand, my mother works as a school teacher in
secondary school by the name of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Mahawangsa in my
hometown.

The journey of my educational life started in Sekolah Kebangsaan Jitra. But I did not complete
my studies there as any other kids as I have to follow my father to Birmingham, England. The
reason was that he went to pursue his Master in Accountancy at that time. Suddenly there is a
major change in my life as I have to adapt to a new education system there in Birmingham.

During the one and a half years studying in Birmingham, I learned a lot. The fact that I’ve been
to both their primary and secondary school is also another factor why I am achieving what I
achieved these days. While I was there, I won an award for perfect attendance during both
primary and secondary school. In fact, I am the only foreign student who ever won such award.
When people asked me how I did it, the answer is easy; my father. He taught me that if I missed
a day in school, it means that I have already missed one day in the future and there is no price
tag that can buy back what you have already missed. According to him you cannot imagine how
much you would have missed if you are absent from school. I believed what he said and from
then on I tried my best not to be absent even when I fell sick.

Then, after a year and a half, I came back to Malaysia and attended Ma’ahad At-Tarbiyah Al-
Islamiyah, a religious school in Beseri, Perlis but only until Form 3. After PMR, I continued my
secondary education in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Mahawangsa in my hometown
Jitra; the same school where my mother is teaching. The reason is that my parents wanted to
monitor me and make sure I studied for SPM. This is due to the fact that, at that time I was
involved in many extra curricular activities and my parents worried that I am not focused for
SPM. After that, I continued my studies in UiTM Kedah doing Pre-Law. Currently, I’m trying to
finish LLB (HONS) programme.

I am an outdoor person. I love jungle trekking, mount climbing, camping, wall climbing and also
abseiling. In fact I started abseiling as early as 7 years old. I still remember the first time that I
tried abseiling. At that time my dad and his friends was conducting a camping and one of the
activities was abseiling from a 6 storey hostel in UUM. The feeling is just awesome. I like the
feelings of the adrenalin rushing all over my body and the feeling of satisfaction when you
landed safely. I must say, I’m up for abseiling any time of the day. Besides that, I love playing
football and tennis.

I must say that I am a very punctual person. I got it from my father. I still remember the times
that if our family is going somewhere, my father will tell us at what time we must be ready or if
not, he will just leave us. There is one time when we supposed to go back to my grandfather
house in Johor for one week, I was left alone at my house just because I am late for about 5
minutes. At that time I still don’t understand the reasons he did that. But now, I thank him for

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giving me such training as now I value my time very much. Time is life and there is no price that
can buy back what you already lost.

Apart from that, I think I can handle my stress well. Even if I am in a very stress mood, I seldom
let it out to other people. I manage my stress by engaging in activities that I love such as playing
football or driving, drifting and drag racing. To be noted that I engage this activities legally as I
enter into competition.

My other strength is that I think I am a quite good leader. During my early days, I always joined I
camping trip. There, whenever I am appointed as a group leader, most of the time my group will
be awarded with best group award. To me, being a leader is the ability to make decisions not
only according to what you want but also taking into considerations what other people wants.
But, you must be firm once you have made the decision. Apart from that, I think that, I have the
energy to keep others going as well when they are don’t or not in the mood.

Now, I realize that I have a few weaknesses that I need to overcome and I must say I am trying
each and every day to do that. Firstly, I am not very good in both writing and speaking in English
language. I realize that my grammar is not very good and I always have this dream to be able to
converse in English with perfect grammar and tenses. I believe that to be able to converse well
in English is very important to succeed in this present world especially in the legal field where
the main language is English.

Apart from that, another weakness that I am trying to overcome is that as I have said before, I
am a very punctual person. Therefore if I made a promise with someone, I expect them to be
punctual also but most of the time they are not and this annoyed me. Sometimes I can just
cancel the plan if they made me wait for quite sometime. I think I need to be more patient when
it comes to tolerate people who are not punctual.

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR DECISION IN UNDERTAKING

THE BACHELOR OF LAW (HONS) PROGRAM?

Honestly, ever since I was a small kid, I have the ambition to be a lawyer. The reason at that
time is that I was never good in mathematics and until now it remains the same. During my
school years I really dislike mathematics. From there on, I have been asking to my parents and
other people about a job which does not involve a lot of mathematics. The answer that I
received from them is the same that is become a lawyer. From there on when people asked me
what is my ambition the answer remains the same that is to become a lawyer.

But that was then when I was a small kid. When I grew up a little bit more, I involved a lot in
public speaking activities such as debate mostly in Bahasa Melayu and I represent my school
and district in competition. From there on, I get a lot from the teachers that I can become a good
lawyer. However, there is this one occasion where there are two of my cousins who took up law
but did not completed their study in law. They mock me when I say that I want to take up law.
According to them, they have tried it and it’s hard for them and its going to be harder for me as
they said that I am not smart compared to them. That is when I promise to myself that I want to
prove them wrong. Alhamdulillah, now I can be proud of myself as I have completed my
Bachelor of Law (Hons) Program.

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Another factor that contributed to the decision of me taking up law is my parents. They helped
me in coming to the decision to do this course. They give me full support when I told them that I
wanted to do law. They support me all the way until now. Without them, I don’t think that I can
ever finish my BLS. Apart from that, another contributing factor is that, I want to learn the law
and know how it is applied in real life.

There is one incident when I was in Form 5, my friend was beaten up to death by people who
mistaken him with a thief. It was so sad that the police did not take any action against the
people in that village. From there on, I promised to myself that I must learn the law so that I can
help those who are in need.

WHAT ARE YOUR ASPIRATIONS IN THE FUTURE AS AN ADVOCATE & SOLICITOR?

After I finished my LLB (HONS) programme, I wish to do my pupilage in a firm specializing in

corporate and commercial matters. I must say that my interest is more towards corporate world.
The reasons being is that, firstly the big money is there, secondly is that I like to challenge
myself to do things which other people considered is as tough. Well, that is my initial plan. But
sometimes I have doubt as to what I wanted to do in the future.

Sometimes I just feel like to settle down and become a Deputy Public Prosecutor. By looking at
the economic downturn now, most of the people advise me to settle with the government.
However, that is not what I really want. As for now, I still keep my option open and that also
includes the possibility that I may end up in the judiciary department. Honestly, I am still not sure
what to do after this. But no matter what ever I will do in the future I will make the best out of it. I
believe that I can do many good things out there when I am a qualified advocate & solicitor.
There is a lot to be done out there and I believe that I can contribute in doing such things.

I have this vision with a few of my friends that in 5 to 7 years time we want to have our own firm
and this time around it will be a real one. The real Ashraff & Associates which can generate
money and contribute to the society. That is my vision. Maybe at that time, we will focus only in
a few area of laws and become the expert in that area. Hopefully the firm will be a successful
one so that we have enough money to build a mosque and other charitable place as a sign of
appreciation for Allah for making this life a kind one to me for all these years.

Most importantly, I think at that time I would like to educate the society and change the way they
are thinking. Because to me, currently our society is not thinking the way they should be. They
are easily fooled or misdirect by unfounded allegations and they are scared of their own
shadows. Now, people did not listen to what I have to say as according to their typical thinking
that I am just a young boy who is still learning and they don’t have confidence in what I say. I
hope that one that, when I am already a qualified advocate & solicitor I can change their minds
and the way they think so that we can have a first class minded society.

AS AN ADVOCATE & SOLICITOR, HOW CAN YOU PLAY A ROLE IN A SOCIETY?

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First of all, I believe that the society look up to those individuals who have the title of an
advocate & solicitor as to them, these are the people who are well verse in the law which they
are not. They put so much trust on what these people advice them to do. Therefore, if one day I
am already a qualified advocate & solicitor, I will try my best to help the society to get the best
legal advice for them.

Apart from that, I think the societies nowadays are not informed about their basic rights and I
think that they deserve to know that. By becoming an advocate & solicitor I believe that by a
little bit of effort, I can conduct a talk or workshop to inform them about their rights. Through this
talk or workshop I believe I can educate the society to become a well informed society. The end
results would be that the society is alert what’s happening around them and they can become a
better society.

I also believe that as an advocate & solicitor, it is our job to provide them with the best legal
service that they can have. It is our duty to educate them about alternative dispute resolution
and court is not the only means for them to settle their dispute. If the society is educated over
this matter, I believe that our judicial system will be at its excellent level in no time.

Becoming an advocate & solicitor is not glamorous as the name implies. People are watching
every moves and action that you make and such action represents the whole system. As an
advocate & solicitor I believe that people can change their attitude if they are exposed to
something which is good. By involving in this profession, we are their role models especially for
the younger generation. I believe I can be something that can inspire them to change. As I came
from a secondary school which is labeled as a school where only failures belongs, I believe I
can inspired the younger generation to prove what other thought is wrong. I just hope the
younger generation will benefit from it.

WHAT DOES EHTICS IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION MEANS TO YOU?

When we talk about ethics, we are basically discussing the underlying principle that forms the
foundation of integrity and accountability with regards to the rigors of the legal profession. Ethics
can be subjected to a very wide interpretation, while some may prefer to restrict ethics in
accordance to the ideas which may be relevant to the day to day conduct of an advocate and
solicitor.

Ethics is the controlling element that suggests order and guiding light to ensure that a person
can not be lead astray from conforming to the discipline and code of conduct that shapes the
ideal model of a trustworthy counsel. It is a set of rules guided by values of morality, keeping the
mind focused at serving the needs of the client without regards to one’s own personal interest.

Being ethical in the profession basically means to be able to be in control from doing an act
which is in contrary to the interest which the counsel is sworn to protect. One may propose that
a counsel upholds the ideas and values of justice and fairness, while others may think that a
counsel’s duty is only towards his client with no regards whatsoever to justice itself, as long as
the counsel executes his duty to the client. I for one, choose the former.

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For example, given a situation to either choose to be in the shoes of a counsel representing a
known felon, with all promises of wealth and publicity or to simply lay low as a conveyancing
lawyer, I may, given the appropriate circumstances, gladly choose to deal with land matters. Not
to sound naïve, but being ethical means making the right choices. It means being able to stop
and think at those precise moments where it calls for a person to weigh the options instead of
simply choosing the easy path and straying into grey territories or even darker sides of the
profession.

It is a well known fact that there are groups of lawyers who unapologetically hang around
hospitals in search of road accident victims to ‘offer’ their services, or those who bill their clients
with insanely unreasonable sums just for the sake of wealth; all these are good examples of
people not being able to make wise choices and therefore allow themselves to be inducted into
the dark corners of the profession, along with mob lawyers and lawyers who blatantly lie for the
sake of money.

Given all those examples, it is understandable what ethics should in fact be understood as:
moral fiber; which holds the urge to fulfill one’s desire to sell his soul to the devil and become
something else entirely, with only greed in mind. Therefore, it is only fitting to answer, when
asked what does ethics mean to an aspiring law student such as myself, that ethics in the legal
profession is simply having the common sense to say no, when it would be very temping to say
yes.

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