By Vinoothene Chandrasekaran
Pix Ikhwan Hashim and Izwan Azman

BANGI, 14 May 2016 – The National University of Malaysia (UKM) has become home to law books of  another prominent legal figure – this time the collection of the late Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, Raja Aziz Addruse (1936-2011).

The Yang di-Pertuan Negeri Sembilan and Chancellor of UKM, Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir, alongside with Vice-Chancellor  Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali and the family of the late Raja Aziz Addruse were present at the presentation ceremony at the UKM Faculty of Law auditorium, here today.

The idea of placing the collection at UKM’s Faculty of Law Library was mooted by the UKM Board of Directors and approved by Tuanku Muhriz.

Renovations of the second floor of the Law Library to house the collection of the three-time President of the Bar Council was completed on 28th April 2016.

Prof Noor Azlan said negotiations on managing and placing the collection were carried out by Law Faculty Dean Prof Dr Rohimi Shafiee, with Raja Aziz’s widow  Catherine Addruse.

Raja Aziz Addruse’s daughter Raja Azrin recalled that her father loved all kinds of books, especially on law, which the massive collection is now housed at UKM.

She said her father took good care of his books where to this day the volumes are in remarkably pristine condition.

“When he died, my family and I decided that we did not the collection to be broken up,” she said in her address representing the family.

She stated that it was actually a very easy decision to donate to the law library where it would be a resource for future generations.

Raja Azrin called on law students to treasure and respect the books and the law as much as her father did.

The library now holds more than 101,000 volumes of books, serial publications, eBooks, journals, and media as well as  home to other distinguished endowments  such as the Asean Law Collection, Hooker Collection and the Tengku Ahamad Rithauddeen Collection, whom had worked together with Raja Aziz Addruse in their law firm Rithauddeen & Aziz.