Let's face it. In any competition there bound to be winners and losers. That's always the mindset that is prevalent among us since time immemorial. We always prefer the "winner takes all" mentality or "loser ends up with telur ayam" attitude. It doesn't matter whether it's Manchester United v Liverpool or Ong Tee Keat v Mr Viagra Chua Soi Lek
or to give a more current scenario; BN v Pakatan in Bagan Pinang. The formula is simple enough; it will never be a win-win situation as it is like what AR Tompel said in Do Re Mi; impossible.
Do things really need to be that way? Do we need to hear yet again Mr Rafa Benitez claiming that his side still can win the league even after an awful performance (again) or need we listen to Sir Alex's strange accent blaming everyone else from the referee to the pitch (and maybe the goalpost someday?) when MU surprisingly lost? Aren't we fed up listening to political parties blaming that their enemies' "fitnah" and "tohmahan" that determined the election result and their defeat, but not their own arrogance, unfulfilled promises and bad choice in
selecting the candidate (remember loyar jadian?).
Enough is enough. For me the rule is simple. Apart from violence sport (or entertainment) like wrestling, boxing or laga ayam (or even laga ikan sepilar); all other competitions should be deemed to be friendly unless the circumstances warrants it to be otherwise. By putting gentleman ship as the touch stone in any competition, perhaps even the outcome
may not be that material after all. The way you play the game, how well you do in the competition, how much effort you put in, the mutual respect that exists between the contestants and the way we behave
ourselves after the verdict; might turn put to be the more important elements in a competition.
Talking about a subject which is close to me i.e. the trial process in the court of law, it certainly needs a decent amount of gentleman ship to exist as well. The day to day trial process can be very taxing, emotionally testing and even sometimes cruel if we start treating a trial to be a personal mission or making the statistical aspect of the outcome (wins and losses) as an ultimate aim. Conducting a trial in court especially in criminal cases, should be without the extra burden of preserving your personal record
to be intact like Tiger Woods' record perhaps (even he looses sometimes).
To the contrary, a criminal trial is just a process
whereby evidence are presented by the prosecution (not coached-no need to be B. Sathianathan here), tested via cross-examination by the defense (not to sembelih witness ok) and finally moulded and decided by the judge (not by using buah dadu please). If the accused got convicted, then the evidence must be so strong that even the counsel is unable to tear it apart. Similarly, if the accused is acquitted, then
there must a serious lacking in the evidence that was presented. That's why, in both situation justice is served (emphasis added). It must be construed that way as both the conviction and acquittal has gone
through the unique process of trial. Everyone got the chance to present his case and defend it.
If parties truly understand this, then there will be no poker faces after a verdict is given against the accused. The DPP would not be worried to much to report to the superiors about an acquittal as he had done his level best to present the available facts. Likewise, a lawyer should not be too disheartened
when his client got convicted as he also has performed gallantly to rescue his client from the gallows or the istana hinggap Sungai Buloh. However tough the trial process, however hot the exchange of words, once you walk out from the courtroom you should have buried the hatchet inside and become friends again outside.
In the end, what matters most is justice is truly served as both parties have played their part to their level best in making sure the justice system is alive and kicking. Thus, it's never too late to adopt the concept of "humble in a win" and "gratious in a defeat" and you will continue to enjoy attending trials in court without being bored (however menyampah
you are with the judge). Wassalam.
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