I SCRATCH YOUR BACK, YOU SCRATCH MY BACK

The word scratch often associated with negative connotations like the scratch and win scheme. The same goes for the term "I scratch your back, you scratch my back". To a layman understanding, it means the culture of "cover line" and also the culture of coffee money (duit kopi) whereby people will only help if they were given some consideration (lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu la). But I am of the view that the term "I scratch your back, you scratch my back" should be more used to denote something positive i.e the concept of mutual respect and understanding. Why am I being boombastic here?

Well, if in the movies we have triple X (I mean the Vin Diesel one la) and in WWE we have Triple H; today I received a triple too that is a triple treatment. The triple treatment are; firstly having a submission in a 39B case adjourned simply because the DPP was stuck in another court whereby the other judge refused to allow the DPP to be excused for a while to do the submission. This is in addition to the fact that the case was fixed today without consulting me when it was postponed from last week. I only got the surat cinta via fax machine last week after both parties (excluding me of course) agreed on a new date.

Secondly, another case that I stood down to 2.30 pm (because of the 39B case) was given a new date without my attendance and I was informed that the judge gave the date in chambers when meeting the DPP. The interpreter also "mildly" threatened my client with waran tangkap if he's not present although last week the court has granted the adjourment to 2.30 pm. Lastly, my office received a "friendly" call from another court interpreter who kept repeating that the judge is about to struck off a S.376 appeal in the court today because nobody was present eventhough no notice was ever given by the court to us regarding today's date (I received sepatah haram).

Call it what you like, at best its a miscommunication or I can say someone is behaving lackadaisically in performing their duty. At worst its a lack of appreciation to the term "I scratch your back, you scratch my back" or in Phua Chu Kang's languange; tahapahapa attitude (don't pray pray haa). I'm not pointing my gun or trying to catapult towards the bench only. It happens also to other parties as there will always exist species of unscrupulous lawyers and syok sendiri DPPs.

The point is this. Respect and being tolerant is mutual in nature. It must be bi-lateral (dua hala) and mus'nt be a one sided affair (clapping one hand only). Before you can demand others to respect you, being considerate to you; you yourself must show it first. Take the situation in our courts as an example. Certain standards are expected from lawyers side and DPP concerning application for adjournment e.g sufficient notice, all parties to be duly consulted etc. Should'nt the same standard applies to the bench? Correct me if I'm wrong but all components involved in courts are officers of the court. It only happens that each of us play different roles either on the bench, prosecutors or defenders (of the world!).
Moving to a bigger scale from the courts that is in the country; the same standard should and must be applied to all parties, across the board. The raksulbaqarah (kepala lembu) incident is the test case here. All perpetrators must be brought forward to face the music and answer the charge prefered to them. They can always defend themselves later by enganging loyar berjurus or loyar buruks (up to them). It's more pressing to charge them in the light of overwhelming video evidence (not to mention the police as eye-witnesses but acted like pak guards) and also the racial card that were played at a very dangerous level (kalau di Tambatan Di Raja dah banjir melimpah dah).

The slow motion and ultra scutiny method adopted by the police was regretted though not totally unsuprising. After all, their own minister kerismudin was the one flip-floping and contradicting himself in defending the culprits. KJ get my vote here (definitely not as the future PM) for being consistent and bold enough to condemn the wrongdoings regardless of which puak or kroni who did it. Compare and contrast with excessive forse used in capturing Hindraf 16 a few days later by merely giving 10 seconds to disperse and then immediately arresting them (and dragging some of them). Remeber, the reason given on the raksulbaqarah episode was the police present was junior officers and police can't arrest people sesokahati!? This double standard is definitely not helping to uplift the eroding image of our police force ( I pity the good ones there).

To conclude, I feel sorry for our PM who strive to propagate the unique concept of 1Malaysia as the events that are unfolding lately are not reflecting the noble idea. Maybe he should be talking more (by more I mean wisely) on hot issues happening, instead of passing the baton to his deputy or kerismudin giving not so brilliant comments. Would the 1Malaysia concept suffer the same fate as Islam Had-hari? I don't know. What I know is there's a shop called Hari-Hari! Wassalam.

excerpt from http://loyarberjurus.blogspot.com/

EFFECTIVE SUBMISSION (LOYARBERJURUS STYLE)

By: Ariff Azami
AJK Jenayah JUHAM

The submission stage is the most crucial stage in a hearing proper. This is the time you forward your case (convincingly or otherwise), try to persuade the judge to favor your side and last but not least this is the time to crush your opponent's case(contradictions and gaps) just like what John Rambo did in Rambo 4 using his machine gun. Thus, I lay down a few important foundations in order to triumphantly deliver your submission and to enjoy the fruit of labour. Beware! This is not for Otais (old-timers) who may have developed your own technique or jurus in handling submissions.

To begin with, submission is not a repetition of the evidence in court (like what Astro currently doing in movie channels). You should'nt be reproducing the evidence as its already in the notes but rather you infer or conclude from the set of facts available. Quotation from the notes is permissible but keep it to
the minimum and only to the vital ones. If your submission is 70% or more comprises of cutting and pasting the evidence; then you must realise that you did not even past the first hurdle in producing an
effective submission.

In contrast, it must not be too skinny or short. Then you must be either ultra-confident that your opponent has a going to the drain case (kes yang akan ke longkang) or you have no clue whatsoever on what you are suppose to submit (making a seposen face). With due respect, it happens in real world mainly among police prosecuting officers (PO) and sometimes new DPPs. The maximum words used by them in their submission is 5 words; that is "hujahan saya adalah sepertimana keterangan". And how you expect this kind of half-hearted (or no heart al all) submission to even compete against a well prepared and documented submission prepared by loyarberjurus? Its like Ferrari v. Proton and surely judges as human beings will normally incline to accept the Ferrari level of submission.

Its a plus factor to be systematic, up to date and properly managing the database of case laws and other references. The reason is that you need not have to prepare the same thing all over again for every submission. Also, it will be very handy to straight away record in the notes during the trial itself what you want to submit later, instead of trying to figure out everything at the final stage. The court now is proposing to make it compulsary that the submission be done immediately after the party closes its case, without any preparation period given. This is more challenging (and nonsense actually) and stressful. Thus, the best option is still like what I've been doing; to prepare submission (skeleton) even before the trial starts.

Apart from do's there are also a few dont's in doing submission. Rule number one; don't do a Buletin Utama TV3. When you mislead the court or appear to mislead the court and if the judge senses this; then say goodbye to your case. You might as well damage your reputation and goodwill in the process. Submit only the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Even if the peice of evidence is damaging to your case, don't sweep it under the carpet but instead try to distinguish it or at least minimize the negative impact to your case. You will be regarded as a gentleman that boldly acknowledge the shortcomings in your case but still strive to win your case in a civilised manner. Remember cheats never prosper.

Next, is the rule number two; presenting submission must not be boring and monotomous like Berita RTM in radio. It should sound more like Dato Fadzillah Kamsah (loyar kurang menipu bulan Februari sebab kurang hari) or Prof Izi Ali (renung2kan dan selamat beramal). A little bit of mix in your tone is good just like playing tarik tali. It doesn't mean you must turn the court into a Chines Opera or use Padaiyappa style. I know a few good lawyers and DPPs who submit in an orderly manner, slow and steady but with conviction, and still won a lot of cases. Develop your own style, its ok to adopt some other senior practitioner's style but at the end of the day, its the one which you develop yourself will suit you best.

Last and not least, treat submission in a trial as the most awaited stage and not the most avoided one (head-cracking stage). This is because this is the opportunity to show your advocacy skill (and drama skill too), crucify your opponent and tell the whole world that you are not just a lawyer reman/jamin or DPP sebutan but a real litigator (because this snippet is mainly targeted to newbies and not otais grandmasters). Wassalam.