Lawyer, political secretary and civil rights activist Syahredzan Johan shares his journey as a champion for human rights
Syahredzan Johan never imagined that he would be a lawyer, despite always having had a keen interest in the legal system.
"I have my mother to thank for this," he admits. "I wanted to be a doctor at first and even got myself into the science stream during my SPM. But when I received my results… well, let’s just say that when I continued with my A-Levels, my mother persuaded me to take up the subjects for law instead. I loved it though and realised that I was good at it."
After finishing his Bachelor’s degree at Cardiff University in the UK, a 23 year-old Syahredzan joined RamRais & Partners (now known as Ram Caroline Sha & Syah) in the late 2000s. When asked about his decision to champion human rights, Syahredzan explains: “When I first started out, the political-legal landscape was still reeling from the effects from the judicial crisis in 1988. There was a hunger for change."
Along the way, he realised that being a lawyer was more than just cases and transactions - he saw it as an opportunity to contribute to society.