Elevated to the Lowest Point

As you might have noticed, I was made a junior KL Magistrate on 2nd June 2008. This means that I am a small scale judge. At the moment, I handle KL traffic offences. Petty it may be to some but the jurisdiction that I am required to cover ranges from causing death due to reckless and dangerous driving (minimum 2 years imprisonment and minimum RM5000), Rempit offences, drunk driving and also for not having a side view mirror on a motorcycle, expired road tax and insurance coverage. ( Expired insurance coverage has a new meaning now as I now disqualify the offender from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 12months).

I am not sure about other districts, but a first class Magistrate in KL has the smallest jurisdiction (or so I was made to believe… hahaha,). On that score, for an officer with my humble qualification, I can be said to have been elevated to the lowest point of the judiciary system in KL.

Speaking of elevation, I am reminded of the following saying’s of the Prophet Muhammad SAW about God. The last paragraph sort of jive in quite well.


Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 508:
Narrated by Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "Allah's Hand is full, and (its fullness) is not affected by the continuous spending, day and night." He also said, "Do you see what He has spent since He created the Heavens and the Earth? Yet all that has not decreased what is in His Hand." He also said, "His Throne is over the water and in His other Hand is the balance (of Justice) and He raises and lowers (whomever He will)." (See Hadith No. 206, Vol. 6)

In one of the many courses that I have attended, I remember still a lecture by a retired High Court Judge, Datuk R.K. Nathan. He reminded us all that it is God who CHOSE us to be where we are. So if we are having difficulties in making a decision, we should (and we must, if I could add) invoke His help.

That is a truly valid point. Most of us, (if not all), who joined the Judicial and Legal Service (JALSOA) (especially as a judicial officer) would want to be posted (or elevated) as a Magistrate. I had that dream as well. I was instead posted as a Senior Assistant Registrar for the Kuala Lumpur High Court (Commercial Division 6). After serving my super cool Judge for about nine months, (not including the 1 month of floating, about 1 month medical leave for breaking my tibia bone and about another month of induction and National Service) I was then elevated as a Magistrate.

Anyhow, going back to the valid point (refer to the first sentence in the above paragraph), we have no power in choosing where we will be. It is definitely up to The Big One Up There to decide. Once He has placed us somewhere, we must then strive to fulfill our responsibility. Of course when we have problems or hiccups, (in any event we will definitely face) we should go back to Him. I’ll have to admit, sometimes, when I am having difficulties in passing a sentence or a decision, I would close my eyes, free my mind, make a very sincere prayer for Him to grant me some wisdom and allow me to reach the most appropriate decision.

Actually, I do that all the time, not only when I’m in difficulty. It gives me a great feeling knowing that I am humble enough to seek His guidance and pleasure. I’ll end this post with another interesting saying of the Prophet about God.


Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 502:
Narrated by Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "Allah says: 'I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.' "

Someone repeated the above saying to me yesterday in a talk. I closed my eyes to try and “feel” the meaning of it. I stopped when my eyes became watery. Even for that short span of time, I had a nice feeling in my heart knowing that I have such a Merciful Creator.

The feeling’s back again. Since I’m all alone in my chambers, I just gonna enjoy it even more this time.

p.s: for more of the Prophet's sayings, check out:

http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/hadith/bukhari/index.html

and the sayings above were plucked from here:

http://www.iiu.edu.my/deed/hadith/bukhari/093_sbt.html

Blog adjourned…

Mahkamah Majistret Durian

Oh ho ho!!! After my matters this morning, as I was walking out of my room, my Ralph Lauren Romance perfume was conquered by the ever recognizable aroma of the king of the fruits. Devastated, I walked around my Court to see how bad I am loosing. All hopes was crushed when I saw my fellow policeman happily enjoying a whole basket of Durians.

They usually would not notice me walking upon them as I apply the basic element of surprise. I made sure that my surprise visits and my timing are never consistent and I would come from various routes available.

Knowing the source of the smell, I continued my usual walk. It appears that KL’s traffic court has changed its name to the durain court today. Thank God my matters are over and that there is no one in the lockup.

Blog adjourned.

RM5000 Magistrate!!

I went to a Community Service Forum a couple of days ago. It was very useful for my line of work. On top of that, the food was excellent.

There I met the Social Service Officers that would appear in my Court. As I was talking to one of them, he informed me that amongst the youthful offenders, I am known as the RM5000 Magistrate.

Hahaha, it is not that I can be bought with (only) RM5000! The section that I deal with daily is Section 42 of the Road Transport Act 1987. The sentence laid down under the law is for a mandatory imprisonment of not more than 5 years and minimum fine of RM5000 and not more than RM15000. Since I would always opt for these sentences instead of granting a bond of good behaviour or Community Service, hence the reason why the young mat rempits regard me as the RM5000 Magistrate!!! Funny la they all...

I had this case today. The chap was around 18 years old and was caught riding his motorcycle dangerously and recklessly. He was charged under S. 42(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987. If he is convicted, he shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years and fined RM 5000 minimum. He pleaded guilty to committing the Mat Rempit act.

Now, apparently, he was also convicted for dishonestly receiving stolen property by another Magistrate some couple of months ago and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment . He was still serving his 6 months imprisonment when he was brought before me and had a couple of months left.

Looking at the facts of the case, what he did was just a wheelie and he beat some traffic lights while he was "enjoying his moment". Then he was caught. Apparently he was aggressive during his arrest.

Now, I felt that he must've had a tough time being in prison for 6 months. What I did was this. I accepted his guilty plea as there was nothing to disqualify it. After considering his mitigating factors and Social Report (the Court has the discretion to request for a social report for young offenders between the age of 18-21), I jailed him for 1 month and fined him RM 5000 (in default of paying the fine, he will be subject to 1 month imprisonment) apart from cancelling his "L" licence, endorsing the crime in his licence and forbidding him to apply for a driving licence for 2 years. The endorsement order will apply whenever he applies for a licence after 2 years from today.

My reasoning is this. I doubt the chap's father's capability to pay the RM 5000 fine. Taking the worst case scenario, if his father does not pay, he will stay in prison for two months. In about 2 and a half months he will be released. I made sure that his conviction and sentence for the traffic offence would be served concurrently with his other offence. No point in keeping him in prison for too long. Hopefully he turns over a new leaf and stays away from his old friends.

I met him when he was being transferred back to Kajang Prison. I told him my rational and I vehemently warned him to stop his antics when he is released. He understood my rational and thank me for such discretion. I thought he was sincere. I hope he is... It's for his own good...

Blog Adjourned...

Enforcement Experiance

On one eventful Friday night, i was invited by "the Department" to join them in conducting a road block. Since I recieved a formal invitation and after gaining approval from my boss, I decided to go and see how a road block is conducted.

It started at 8.30pm. I arrived at about 8.20pm. Upon arriving, I was greeted by some familliar officers. They brought me around to meet their head of divisions and bosses. It was a fairly cool night with tents with lights and fan all over the side of the road.

"erm... tak jumpe gambar roadblock malam"


The objective of the invite is to inform other public officers how difficult it is to catch a traffic offender. Apparently, out of 10 motorcycles caught, at least 5 didn't have driving licence / road tax / insurance.


I even saw the portable weight machine which is connected to a laptop. It is to detect overweight lorries. The lorry will have to place both of its front tyres on the metal piece, then the computer will record some data, then the next two tyres (left and right), and so on. At the end of it, the computer, using some specia software, would determine if the lorry is overweight or not. It was really cool and that gadget is bloody expensive.

Cool kan?

At the end of it, I understood how difficult and dangerous it is to catch traffic offenders. We may think that a roadblock is a bloody nuisance but it is really necessary. There are too many traffic offenders in KL. But the roadblocks must not cause catastrophy to everyone. In other words, not ALL roadblocks are necessary. Some are just pointless and annoying and ridiculous.


Apparently, some people are comparing the amount of fines imposed by KL Traffic Magistrates and other districts. Some say that KL is much cheaper than Shah Alam. I am not sure about other districts.


This could be true. Maybe that is the reason why there are too many traffic offenders in KL. After that day, I decided that public interest would be best served if a higher fine is imposed. This is done with the hope to scare others and deter them from being so careless with their licence, road tax and insurance. Apparently, on the day I incereased the amount of fines, I was informed that someone remarked that "Majistret ni sudah naik harga"... HAHAHA... Minyak pun boleh naik mendadak, ape lagi saman.


Then again, whatever fines or prison sentence that I impose will remain only within the Court compound. The message will never be brought across the all road users since most of the reporters are too busy covering other cases elsewhere. Oh well, who am I to dictate the use of media for some petty traffic offences?


It is everyone's interest but no one is interested...

Persuasive Decision Revised

Well, it has been a while since I last wrote. I have been dead busy. Within one month, there is a possibility that a couple of my decisions (nine actually) may be revised by the High Court and I have three appeals already. This is how it came about.

The nine possible revisions were for Rempit offences. You see, in June 2008, I was made a Traffic Magistrate in KL. I then asked for some samples of my predecessor's decision, sentence and minutes for me to follow. It's normal that a new Magistrate will ask for their predecessor's records so that they don't pass some ridicilous and out of the norm sentence. My interpreter gave me a sample each for the many common traffic offences.

There was one sample for community service. In that case, the Magistrate granted the accused a bond of good behaviour for two years AND ordered the accused to undergo community service. The powers to do so are stated in S. 293 (1) (e) and s. 294 of the Criminal Procedure Code accordingly. That was just what I followed. I remembered asking some lawyers, my prosecuting officer and the welfare officer if I am allowed to apply these two orders concurrently for the same offence. They answered in the affirmative.

After a month of doing so, I was asked by my supervising judge on those decisions. She was of the opinion that it amounted to double jeaopardy (two punishments for one offence). So she wants to send my decisions to the High Court for a revision and whatever the decision may be, will be binding upon the lower courts.

I reserve my comments on my own legal reasoning. Suffice for me to say for now that I was just following a persuasive decision of my predecessor.

Then again, I partially revoke my reservation above. Here's the general overview of what I think. Looking at the two sections, I may be wrong in applying both sections at one go but there seems to be some loopholes to it. Now it depends on whether the nine decisions will be sent for revision. I hope it will... The High Court's reasoning would be an interesting read since the order for community service in Malaysia is very very very vague and ambiguous.

Then I have my 3 appeals. This was the main reason why there was no update. I have four weeks to complete my reasonings for the sentences that I have imposed on three seperate cases. All of the three accused pleaded guilty. I gave one a RM2500 fine and 21 days imprisonment for driving with his alcohol level beyond the prescribed limit. The second chap got RM5000 (minimum fine) and 21 days imprisonment for riding a motorcycle dangerously and recklessly. The third guy got a minimum RM5000 fine and 1 day imprisonment for driving his car dangerously and recklessly.

Actually, I have already prepared all three draft reasonings within 3 days. Just a little bit of touching up here and there. I plan to post it once I am satisfied with it and after I endorsed them as my official legal reasonings. Then it'll be a public document. I don't think i'd be in trouble for publishing it... hmmm... I'll have to double check first... :)

Blog adjourned...

Question and Answer Session...

Have you ever seen cross examination in a litigation? No, Cross Examination does not mean taking an examination angrily. Well, it’s actually a terminology used for the opposite party in a litigation, be it a civil or criminal case, to question a witness, after the witness has given his examination in chief. Many styles for cross examination are available base upon one’s skill. It is not something that you can learn and master it in law school but it comes naturally after years and years of practice. Heck, if I was ever given the opportunity to conduct a cross examination now, I’d probably screw up my client’s case. It’s not as easy as it looks on tv.

The most common mistake that I notice so far is that some counsels prefer to intimidate the witness. It gets so bad until the witness would no longer want to cooperate with the intimidating counsel. There is no need to intimidate all of your witness. You need to learn to coax the answer that you want from him and you won’t be able to do that smoothly if the witness is angry and has built up his own defence mechanism against you. To my personal mind, a great cross examiner should be able to make the witness realize, by himself, without the need of any explanation, that he has given contradicting statements. Only, and only once the witness can be seen to have realized this blunder, should the cross examiner ask the witness if he is telling contradicting stories in court.

It is not necessary to accuse that the witness is lying in court. Sometimes we tend to mix up story A and B. This can easily happen when you are in the witness stand, giving statements under oath, knowing that every single thing (or most of what is necessary) is recorded by the presiding judge, being questioned and quizzed non-stop by the opposing counsel and when you yourself have started to get confused with the facts of the case.

Chill la sikit brader. Just because the witness is from the other side, it doesn’t mean that he is your enemy. He is in the witness box just because he is related to the case. No need to feel that he is there for the sole purpose of destroying your client.

Cross examination are usually noted in question and answer form. Well, that’s the way I do it. It’s easier and a lot faster to record it this way.

Speaking of which, I was asked by a reader to my blog some genuine questions and it actually has no nexus with cross examinations. I reproduce the questions here with my comments below them:

1st : i'v read a book, a biography actually about a judge in malaysia. Can't remember his name, he said he can't simply being with somebody, restricted relationship even he said he can't go to mamak or warung. Is it true? Very poor life the judge had.

Judges are bound by some code of ethics. It does in a way restrict the manner of which one can choose his friends. This being so, it would not be seen appropriate for the judge to be seen “lepaking” at mamak or warung everynight. Tapi kalau nak makan, mana-mana pun boleh.

2nd : Ur wife also being a bloger and comments some issue on politic, thus, is it whatever she wrote will affect u? since whenever some big issue happen the lawyer will korek all out the judge's relation and staments ets...

Yes, the bride has been gifted by the Almighty to have her own opinion on certain issues. We are one entity but whatever comments that she makes on her blog is strictly her own opinion and does not in anyway include / affect me or my reasoning. Besides, I like that she has her own way of thinking. Her independent mind shows that she thinks. This means she uses her brain.

3rd : Not question but statement. Law words and phrases very hard to understand. No matter in english or malay!!! Berbelit.

Eg :a) adalah tanah Kerajaan yang diberimilik oleh sesuatuNegeri kepada Persekutuan bagi maksud-maksudpersekutuan, tanah yang diberimilik oleh sesuatuNegeri kepada Persekutuan selepas pengambilanpaksa atau tanah berimilik yang diambil olehsesuatu Negeri daripada seorang tuan punyapersendirian dengan persetujuan untukPersekutuan, di bawah Perkara 83 Perlembagaan; Simple words Plzzzzz!

Since this is not a question but a statement, I can only agree with you. But I have this to say. Sometimes, you may need to use some bombastic language to explain difficult things. The exact message doens’t get through in simple terms. Sometimes, you don’t. Maybe the reason why you find it hard to understand the example you gave is because you don’t have the art of reading it. I’m not saying that I am THAT GOOD but why don’t you try this simple step. Read the whole paragraph and see if there are any “or” / “atau” / “,” / “dan or and” in the sentence. If there are any, break up the sentence and separate them like this:

a) adalah tanah Kerajaan yang diberimilik oleh sesuatuNegeri kepada Persekutuan bagi maksud-maksudpersekutuan,
b) tanah yang diberimilik oleh sesuatuNegeri kepada Persekutuan selepas pengambilanpaksa, atau
c) tanah berimilik yang diambil olehsesuatu Negeri daripada seorang tuan punyapersendirian

d) dengan persetujuan untukPersekutuan

,
e) di bawah perkara 83 Perlembagaan;


Is it any better? After reading this kind of writings for a few years, you’d get the hang of it. If it is still to difficult, try to engage a lawyer to do the work for you. J

Blog adjourned!

Bloggers Reported!

Did you realize the new trend in newspapers? They are now picking up blog posting and then they paraphrase or summarize the whole post as news. I mean come on!!! Blogging is not news. It's not even suppose to be a mainstream newspaper's headline! Nampak macam some reporters betul-betul malas nak fikir benda untuk dijadikan news.

If reporters really want to use substance in a blog as their news, they should have a special column for bloggers. Something like "Blogger's Corner" or whatever creative and tacky title where selected blogs can be used as reading materials with no authoritative value. Memangla some of the bloggers are very famous and you can see many people supporting their views / agendas / opinions etc. Macamlah dah takda benda sangat nak ditulis or dijadikan headline. I quote Nabil, the Raja Lawak, with some slight modification:

"Lu pikir la sikit bila nak buat kerja!"

See The Star Online at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/6/nation/21753470&sec=nation

Fed-up blogger Rocky takes 48-hour break

PETALING JAYA: For the next 48 hours, Ahirudin Attan will not blog on anything about the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case and the alleged sodomy accusation against PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, saying he is fed up of the mudslinging in cyberspace.
“I am not going to blog on both Altantuya and Anwar because there are other issues to talk about,” said the blogger, also known as Rocky.
» It is making me fed up how real-life politics is being dumped on us in cyberspace «
“Filthy comments have been posted in the blogosphere. It is making me fed up with how real-life politics is dumped on us in cyberspace.
They are throwing dirt on each other.”
He also posted his intent to “go on strike” on his blog, http://rockybru.blogspot.com/ yesterday.
After the 48 hours, Ahirudin said he would set new rules on his blog where comments would be more strictly moderated and that he would post only important developments on the two issues.
The blogger, who constantly writes on political issues in Malaysia, added that the current two “hot topics” were not lightweight issues and it was wrong to trivialise them.
Another blogger, Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, also expressed her exasperation over the matter.
»There are more important things in life, like how someone is going to feed his family « MARINA MAHATHIR
“I am fed up. There are more important things in life, like how is someone going to feed his family. There is just so much rubbish going around,” Marina said.
“I will not blog on issues that I do not know about. And there are people who insist they know what is happening.”
In her blog (www.rantingsbymm.blogspot.com) on Thursday, she wrote that she would go on strike and refrain “from reading the news”, being interested in what politicians were up to and the “so-called analyses of what’s happening by people who don’t really know anything”.
“I don’t know anything at all and I’m quite happy to admit that. And I don’t care to offer an opinion either.
“I just have more important things to do in my life. And I will blog about things that I hope will make us smarter, not stupider,” she wrote.

As though these two blogger's opinion represents the mentality of 26 Million Malaysians... Sheesh!!!

Blog adjourned.