All things considered you Sultans are on a good wicket for now. If you want to keep doing so for a little while longer…then behave yourself and do not try to push your weight around and bully the Rakyat. There are over 20 million of us…only nine of you! Kapish?

I am unable to think of one good reason why we should have a Sultan – any Sultan! Plenty of bad reasons but no good ones!

For a glorious few months I thought this Sultan of Johor was different. He did insist that if he wants to spend a few hundred thousands ringgit on a number plate it was his business…after all it was his money. Fair enough. Then there was that Mindef skirmish on the overpriced armored vehicle that - this Sultan pointed out to all and sundry  - was overpriced. Another feather in his cap  - I thought! And then, unfortunately, like all good things that must come to an end…this Sultan did what any other Sultan have done….he got upset because Ahmad Jalil insulted him!

Alamak if I get upset every time I get insulted I would have been upset twice already this morning! First when I caught my cat, Lea, sitting in MY chair! My wife and son never ever sit in MY chair…so imagine how upset I was when I caught Lea sitting in MY chair!

And then I got on to a crowded Tram to go into town and this young lady got up to offer me a seat! What does she think I am…an old man unable to stand those few minutes that will take the tram to get to Flinders Street just five minutes away? And not only was I insulted by the offer of that seat, I had to sit down and said thank to her lest they all think that I am an ungrateful old man! So really I have been insulted three times before lunch!    

Moral of the story? Come on lah Tuanku…be a bit more thick skin! Do not be too full of yourself and your self-importance! Jalil and all of us are burdened with the costs of keeping you and your brother Rulers in clover so when one of us do upset you by asking you to behave yourself in a manner befitting of a Sultan – you better listen and do as you are told…..nanti Rakyat megamok susah pulak!

You guys already know what happened when UMNO megamok during Mahathir’s time. By the time UMNO finished with you guys you lost your daulat and lots of privileges and legal immunity- among other things. Now UMNO is put into government by the Rakyat – so the Rakyat is Boss. Now if the Boss megamok how? Not only will we tahan your gaji but we have enough horror stories to tell about the goings of the Sultans themselves and their kerabat….aiyah stories of drunk, gambling and fornicating Sultans posted onto the public domain is not kosher for you – but certainly entertaining for the Rakyat!

Top of the list are the biological pursuits these Sultans seems to pursue with vigor and a passion quiet like the Bonobo Chimpanzees.

The bonobo is popularly known for its high levels of sexual behavior. Sex functions in conflict appeasement, affection, social status, excitement, and stress reduction. It occurs in virtually all partner combinations and in a variety of positions. This is a factor in the lower levels of aggression seen in the bonobo when compared to the common chimpanzee and other apes.

But the Bonobo chimps have a lower level of aggression because they have so much sex so I guess these Sultans are still not getting enough because there are still aggressive when provoked! Except for the odd occasion when UMNO provokes him the Selangor Sultan does seems to be quiet for most of the time…wonder why? 

  

With the general election approaching some of these Sultans are beginning to stir as UMNO reaches out to them to do the “I scratch your back and you scratch my back” mambo – a bit different from the horizontal mambo that both are quiet proficient in! One of them has already got his durian runtuh when called upon to assist UMNO in their take over of Perak! Now this Selangor Sultan is beginning to have delusion of grandeur of being the ‘factor’ that will swing Selangor towards UMNO!  Dream on Tuanku….and I suggest you send Miss K to London until after the 13^th general election is over –just in case we decide that your private life is fair game if you try to kachau the status quo in Selangor.

Let me make these Sultans understand this! The Internet is no friend of any Sultan who takes it upon themselves to champion the cause of any UMNO or BN politician in the 13^th general election. If you are not prepared to do the time…do not do the crime of involving yourselves in politics. Leave politics to those who are prepared to suffer the indignities of having their private lives dissected and debated by the Rakyat.

Keep whatever shred of dignity that you might still have – or think you still have. I am under no illusion that it is not if these Sultans are to be abolished but when they will be abolished. If they have any common sense at all they too would see the writings on the wall…if they do not, then it only goes to show what they lack in intellect and common sense to think that they could continue with this free ride on a gravy train to nowhere at our expense! That and the ability to not comprehend that in the times that we live in each and everyone have to pull our own weight if we are to earn our keep. Do nothing and you should get nothing.

All things considered you Sultans are on a good wicket for now. If you want to keep doing so for a little while longer…then behave yourself and do not try to push your weight around and bully the Rakyat. There are over 20 million of us…only nine of you! Kapish?     

Now you can see that the Langat2 is not about quickly resolving Selangor's water pseudo crisis. Rather it is about having to urgently spend RM8.6 billion to facilitate kickbacks!

Many of you maybe wondering what's all the fuss over the purported "Selangor Water Crisis". Is there actually a crisis or was BN trying to create a crisis?Below is an article by the well-known philanthropist, Koon Yew Yin who hails from Perak. Koon Yew Yin graduated from Technical College, KL in the early 50's & he was the co-founder of established construction firms, Mudajaya, IJM & Gamuda. So, it has something to do with transferring raw water from Sungai Semantan in Bentong, Pahang to Selangor via a 45km long tunnel thru the Main Range. This water transfer i.e. Pahang selling raw water to Selangor, was agreed during Mahathir's time & the tunnel is now purportedly 50% completed.

 

Apparently, the modus operandi of our corrupt political leaders is to create gigantic projects, dish them out to cronies who in turn, will give huge kickbacks, preferably into oversea bank accounts of our political leaders.

In the 80's, we used to crack jokes about politicians promising to build bridges where there are no river. Now, they really build those "bridges" i.e. projects which we don't need.

SOMETHING'S FISHY: Why is BN in such a hurry to give out contracts

Written by Koon Yew Yin

A few days ago, as reported in The Star, the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin after chairing the Cabinet meeting declared that he wanted the Selangor Langat 2, costing Rm 8.65 billion, to be fully implemented without further delay.

Realising that the Federal Government has no power to force the Selangor Government to start construction of the Langat 2 treatment plant and other ancillary works which are sited in Selangor, he has instructed the Attorney General to look at the Federal Constitution and other legal documents to find a way out of this dilemma.

Most Malaysians will wonder why the BN Government is in such a great hurry to act on this project especially since it will take several years to implement and will have no immediate impact on the so called water crisis in Selangor. No water crisis in Selangor

In fact, there is no water crisis but the BN Government just wants to create some fear and to justify a highly questionable public investment decision. As reported in a prominent business daily recently, although 50% of the 45 km tunnel has been completed to carry water from Sungai Semantan in Pahang, the Langat2 treatment plant has not started construction. If the treatment plant is not completed, the water from Pahang has nowhere to go and the partially completed tunnel and other completed construction will remain a white elephant.

Bad Intentions behind Langat 2?

Suspicions of bad intentions in this massive and extraordinary public infrastructure arise for several reasons. One reason is that Selangor is an opposition ruled state and we know that the Barisan desperately wants to show how badly the state is run by Pakatan. Hence, the decision to rush the project is to score political points especially since the elections are fast approaching.

However, a more important reason is that the Langat 2 project will be one of the largest water projects in the country. There will be billions of ringgit of contracts to give out. We all know the bad track record of the BN government with respect to super expensive projects in the name of privatization. Basically, what will happen is that a large part of the Langat 2 project will be outsourced to politically connected business and rentier individuals and groups. ‘Piratization’ will take place but this will be spun off in the mainstream media as an Economic Transformation Programme privatization project to resolve the water problems of the state which have been caused by Pakatan mismanagement.

Origin of the Langat 2 project

Also, let us not forget the origins of the Langat 2 project. This was a project initiated by the former state government under Menteri Besar Toyo who believed that the solution to Selangor’s water problem was to transfer water from Sungei Semantan in Pahang. To accomplish this transfer, a new dam Kelau Dam – also has to be constructed to accumulate water to be pumped to the Langat 2 treatment plant. It is a fact that few members of the public if asked their opinion of the previous state government’s record on clean and frugal governance will have anything good to say about Toyo and his state exco members

Alternative Approaches to Selangor’s Water Needs

The present Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid has clearly stated that Selangor is not in urgent need for more water and that there are cheaper schemes to secure additional water.

After careful consideration of the two conflicting approaches to resolving Selangor’s water problem – that of the BN and the present Selangor state government – I and water engineer colleagues who I have consulted strongly believe that there is a superior and cheaper way to supply additional water to Selangor than transferring water from Pahang through the proposed Langat 2 scheme.

One of the alternative proposals is to take water from Sungei Bernam, the river that forms the state boundary between Selangor and Perak. If readers look at Google map, they will notice that the upper reach of Sungei Bernam is in Selangor. This area is a possible area where a dam can be constructed to accumulate water to increase water supply. At the lower end of Sungei Bernam is Sungei Besar where a suitable water treatment plant can be constructed to pipe water to nearby Kuala Selangor and Klang.

Another alternative source of water is the mouth of Sungei Perak, at Teluk Intan which is very much closer to the main demand areas in Selangor than the Langat project. Since the level of these coastal regions is about the same it would be much cheaper to take additional water from Sungei Perak than from Sungei Semantan in Pahang through a highly expensive tunnel that has to be cut in the mountainous Main Range. Sungei Perak at the point of its mouth is several hundred meters wide and there is ample water to meet Selangor’s need for the long term future.

All these alternatives need to be explored by the Selangor as well as the Federal Government before a final decision is made on a project to definitively and economically resolve the state’s water needs. Common sense and rationality must prevail and not the crony ridden business as usual decision making which has earned Malaysia a reputation as a paradise for mismanagement and high level corruption.

Consumers must bear in mind that the BN Government will make you pay a higher water rate if the Langat 2 project is fully completed. You can stop it!

Koon Yew Yin is a prominent citizen, corporate captain and a well-known philanthropist

 

Now you can see that the Langat2 is not about quickly resolving Selangor's water pseudo crisis. Rather it is about having to urgently spend RM8.6 billion to facilitate kickbacks! ???

 

VIRGIN MARY' DRAWS HUNDREDS OF MALAYSIAN CATHOLICS

'

AFPNovember 11, 2012, 8:34 pm

Enlarge photo

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Hundreds of Catholics have gathered in prayer and worship outside a Malaysian hospital after seeing an image said to resemble the Virgin Mary on one of the windows.

Pictures of the image have gone viral among local Christians on Facebook and large crowds have gathered at the Sime Darby Medical Centre just outside Kuala Lumpur.

Those assembled Sunday maintained they can now also see an image of an adult Jesus Christ just two windows away from his mother.

Nearly 100 Catholics were still at the hospital Sunday, lighting candles, singing hymns and saying prayers. Several tourist buses added to the congestion.

Some have come from as far as Singapore, over 300 kilometres (187 miles) away, to see the image on a seventh-floor window which they describe as a miracle.

"We believe Mary, mother of God, has a message for us, as she is looking down on us and then at a Malaysian flag. We can also see Jesus and he is also moving, they are not static," Eunice Fernandez, who lives nearby, told AFP.

Photos - People appearing in stuff

The 54-year-old housewife dismissed claims the image could be a hoax.

Sime Darby, which is primarily a plantations conglomerate, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of Malaysian Catholic newsletter The Herald, told AFP the church would need to investigate and verify the authenticity of the images and "the experiences of the witnesses".

"It could be private revelations. We have to make sure they are not imagined but real apparitions," he said.

Catholics make up a sizeable minority in Muslim-dominated Malaysia.

No ...we will never tire of reading about Altantuya again and again and again...not until we know why she was murdered, who ordered her killing and all those bastards who were involved in one way or another with this sorry, sordid tale of massive corruption, abuse of executive power, deceit and murder most foul - in essence a tale of UMNO's fifty years years in government!! steadyaku47.

The Murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu

Written by John Berthelsen

THURSDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2012

Altantuya Shaariibuu, 1978-2006 Six years on, troubling questions remain about the Mongolian beauty's death, and who ordered it It will be six years tomorrow since bodyguards for now-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak dragged the Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya Shaariibuu out of a car in a patch of jungle near the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Shah Alam. As she begged for her life and apparently that of her unborn child, they knocked her unconscious, then shot her twice in the head. That was Oct. 19, 2006. According to court testimony, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, members of the elite Unit Tindakan Khas, both assigned to Najib’s office, then wrapped Altantuya’s body in C4 plastic explosives and blew her up, possibly to mangle her remains so badly that the fetus would be destroyed. Sirul Azhar was interrogated by police shortly after the murder was discovered. He was informed that anything he said could be held against him, in accordance with the law. In his cautioned statement, as his confession was called in Malaysia, he told authorities he and Azilah had been offered RM100,000 to kill the woman and her two companions, who were causing highly public embarrassment for Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib’s best friend. The 28-year-old Mongolian woman, in a letter found after her death, wrote that she was sorry she had been blackmailing Razak Baginda. If French police records are to be believed, Razak Baginda was allegedly central to a massive bribery case in which a total of nearly €150 million in payments were steered to two Razak Baginda companies, Perimekar Sdn Bhd and Terasasi Hong Kong Ltd. As Asia Sentinel reported earlier this year, records seized by the French police show that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe were aware of the transactions. Memos obtained by Asia Sentinel show the French expected at least part of the money to be steered to the United Malays National Organization, Malaysia’s biggest ethnic political party. Sirul’s confession was never admitted in court despite its seeming legality. And, despite a 14-month trial, neither the prosecutors, the defense nor the judge asked who had offered the RM100,000 payment to the two men. Najib’s chief of staff, Musa Safri, reportedly dispatched the two policemen to pick up Altantuya and her companions, who mercifully weren’t around when the two murderers abducted Altantuya, or presumably they would have died with her, As nearly as can be detremined from official records, Musa Safri was never questioned about the matter, nor was Najib. This recounting is important because in recent weeks Najib’s government has embarked on a concerted legal campaign to discredit a long string of political reform and independent news organizations who have kept the Altantuya story and others concerning corruption and political misdoings alive in Malaysia. Instead, the government and UMNO leaders have accused the reformers of being the tools of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, or of foreign powers, out to destabilize Malaysia. The presumptive foreign powers are shadowy ones, sometimes German, sometimes American, sometimes Israeli, sometimes unnamed. Enormously long blogs have been written calling into question the French documents, which were published by Asia Sentinel. But whoever these foreign powers are, they are cast as out to hoodwink Malaysia’s voters out of the government that is best for them in national elections to be held sometime next year, probably in April. This is an old story, peddled by a long string of disreputable governments across the world when reformers get too close, and it may hold sway again in Malaysia. But there is one incontrovertible fact. Altantuya Shaariibuu is dead, and she appears to have been killed at the behest of someone with considerable clout in Kuala Lumpur. If her dying statement to Sirul Azhar, as he recounted it in his confession, is to be accepted, she appeared to have been carrying the baby of someone, perhaps high in power in Malaysia. And, despite indignant denials from the powers that be, Altantuya appears to have had inside knowledge of the later events in France when Razak Baginda and Najib Tun Razak visited to deal with matters surrounding the purchase of Scorpene submarines from the French contractor DCN. Although pro-government critics have denied she had ever visited France, according to testimony given by Abdul Razak when he was under investigation for ordering the two bodyguards to kill Altaantuya, he himself told investigators he traveled with her to France in 2005. Records seized by French investigators from DCN, the defense contractor that sold Malaysia the submarines, bear that out, According to French investigators’ records, Abdul Razak Baginda and Altantuya met with Jean Marie Boivin, the alleged French fixer who helped to organize “commissions” for friends in high places to pick DCN’s submarines on that same trip. Boivin arranged to pay for a jaunt by Altantuya and Abdul Razak to Macau. Najib has sworn on the Quran that he never met Altantuya, although she was in France at the same time as he was, accompanying Najib’s best friend, Abdul Razak Baginda. On June 11, 2005, Najib gave a press conference after having visited the site where the Scorpene submariners were being trained. “As a maritime nation, (the) acquisition will give our navy the added capabilities,” he told the media. Earlier, in the port city of Brest, Najib visited a naval base where Malaysian navy submariners were training, and, according to the log of an Australian submariner association, presented jackets made available by Perimekar – Abdul Razak Baginda’s company – to the crew. Back in Kuala Lumpur when it was realized that Altantuya was missing, her cousin lodged a police report and sought help from the Mongolian embassy in Bangkok. The Malaysian police found fragments of bone, later verified as hers, in forested land near Shah Alam. The honorary Mongolian consul in Malaysia was given a packet of pictures of Altantuya in Paris, apparently recovered from her hotel room. She had posed in front of the Louis Vuitton headquarters and a variety of other Paris sites. Altantuya’s cousin said she had been shown a picture of the dead woman at a dinner with Najib. If it existed, it was not included in the packet made available to the Mongolian consul, who forwarded the rest of them to Asia Sentinel. After the arrest of Razak Baginda and the two policemen, there ensued a carnival of a trial in a Malaysia high court, in which prosecutors were switched at the last minute; in which Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted without having to put on a defense; in which nobody in Najib’s office was called to testify about who offered to pay the RM100,000; in which Sirul’s confession was never introduced, nor was he asked about any of the facts in it; in which nobody ever asked why immigration records for Altantuya and her two companions disappeared; why or how the two policemen were able to get their hands on C4 plastic explosives available only to the military in the bid to destroy her body. The honorary consul was never asked who gave him the pictures, nor if there others that might have shown more than just her. On Feb. 3, 2009, Sirul pleaded with the court not to sentence him to death, describing himself as "a black sheep that has to be sacrificed" to protect unnamed people. "I have no reason to cause hurt, what's more to take the life of the victim in such a cruel manner .... I appeal to the court, which has the powers to determine if I live or die, not to sentence me so as to fulfill others' plans for me." Eventually the two bodyguards were convicted and packed off to prison. They launched appeals, then other appeals. Their appeals were supposed to have been heard in February this year, eight months ago. Mysteriously their appeals have been delayed. They were supposed to be heard in August. They have been delayed again, and the suspicion is that they will be delayed until after the next election, or perhaps forever. Altantuya Shaariibuu continues to await justice. Birnam Wood still may come to Dunsinane.

EXECUTIVE PRESENCE!

Why you won't be the boss

November 8, 2012, 3:00 pm Jenna Goudreau Forbes

What is 'Executive Presence'? And why you need it to rise to the top.

Do you have it? Can you command the room? Do people stop and listen when you speak? If so, you have likely mastered the illusive art of “executive presence,” a term that’s been buzzing around leadership circles recently. If not, you may be in for a rude awakening.

According to a new study by the Centre for Talent Innovation, a non-profit research organisation in New York, being perceived as leadership material is essential to being promoted into leadership positions. In fact, the 268 senior executives surveyed said “executive presence” counts for 26% of what it takes to get promoted.

So what is executive presence? The ability to project gravitas–confidence, poise under pressure and decisiveness—seems to be its core characteristic, according to more than two-thirds of the executives surveyed. Furthermore, communication—including speaking skills, assertiveness and the ability to read an audience or situation—and appearance contribute to a person’s perceived executive presence.

Communications expert Karen Friedman says oftentimes people who exhibit executive presence exude a “wow factor,” or magnetism, and are able to easily influence others. They often speak up, use strong and clear language, communicate with passion and energy, and display positive body language by standing tall, making eye contact, offering a firm handshake and using an authoritative tone of voice. Moreover, nearly 60% of the executives surveyed said sounding uneducated negatively impacts the way others perceive you.

Appearance represents just a small part of it, but those surveyed said major mistakes in appearance can be detrimental. More than three-quarters said unkempt attire detracts from both men and women’s executive presence, and among women specifically, 73% said too-tight or provocative clothing undercuts it.

The study authors say the findings offer new insight into why fewer women make it to the C-suite. Women and racial minorities were found to struggle more with executive presence, likely because corporate culture has long been a bastion of white men. Some 56% of minority-race professionals feel they are held to a stricter code, compared to 31% of white professionals. Meanwhile, women said feedback on executive presence is often contradictory and confusing, which may be why a whopping 81% say they’re unclear about how to act on it.

John Beeson, principal of management consulting firm Beeson Consulting, says executive presence can be developed “if you have a baseline of self-confidence and a willingness to deal with unpredictable situations” that come with executive leadership responsibilities. He recommends asking two or three people you trust to offer honest feedback; looking for opportunities to hone your presentation skills, as public speaking is an important executive requirement; and finding your executive voice, meaning identifying your communication assets—like listening, thinking and speaking on your feet, or maintaining composure—and leveraging them.

Historia De Un Amor - Eydie Gorme, Trios Los Panchos

Rindu Bayangan : CAREFREE

Nat King Cole : Autumn Leaves

Nat King Cole : Stardust

Cakap cakap...Living life the best way I can.

There are many things on our mind today. The coming general elections, the difficulty of making ends meet when the cost of living keeps rising and our income keeps diminishing. As we grow older we more and more think about what life has in store for us as we see our grandchildren grow up and our own children becoming more and more like us….ahhh life is a bitch but live it we must if we are to keep our sanity on an even keel!

Some of us choose to ignore the coming of old age with a vigor that defies rationality – preferring to defy our already physical and mental overload with yet more demands. To those that do so we sometimes ask “Why?” but we do harbor a grudging respect for their ability to push themselves to limits we would consider just a tad too much. 

All around us the world revolves and carry on with or without our participation…and when it is time for us to leave, the world neither stops nor tarry to wish us adieu, goodbye or selamat jalan. And then you die!

That is a truth I learnt many years ago. Many years ago when I decided to live my own life in my own way in my own time and in my own way. Many years ago in London when I decided that I could not live without my then girlfriend and now wife and mother of my two children and two grandchildren.

Many years ago when I decided to hell with my studies at Ealing Tech, to hell with doing what people expected of me and to hell with a conventional life. And today at sixty-five years old I can truly reflect on what I have done to my life and in my life.

First I give thanks to my parents. They never imposed upon me any religious demands though they themselves were devout Muslims. What they have shown me was that living life with those you love is the most precious of our blessings. If there was anything that I remembered vividly of my life with my parents – Hamid Latiff and Zaharah Ambak – it is this. They enjoyed, seek and basked in each other company more than with any others. Father was never more at ease than sitting in his sarong and singlet while engaging mother in conversation on matters that interest them….and I wondered why until I myself reached their age and did the same with my wife! It is good to be in the company of someone that asks no more of you than to sit and keep him or her company. This is true of those you love and good friends you cherish. Silence in their company is shared bliss.

I give thanks to my wife….and I write freely here because I know she never ever reads what I write in my blog! When we married at Acton, Ealing she bought my trousers and shirt and paid for the wedding ring! Today at sixty-eight she is asleep in our bed nearby while I do my work nearby in the same room. At sixty-eight she is a little worn by the wear and tear of life…and so for that matter am I. I have just told her that she will have to roast a chicken for lunch because she is the best ‘raoster’ in the house….and she wearily smiles and tells me she will. In her present condition (she has dementia) that would mean that I and my son will have to be on standby to do her bidding as she ‘roasts’ the chicken. And so we adjusts to life the best way we can.                  

I am grateful for my writing and to those of you that read what I write. It gives me the ‘ooomph’ in life that comes out of doing something you like doing and having people be part of what you have done. I have neglected ‘steadyaku47’ for a while – a long while actually because I needed to adjust to the realities of living with my beloved wife who has dementia – but I do so willingly as I know that once I am adjusted I will want to continue writing. For now I write when I can.

My two children are my source of constant joy because I know no matter what they do, no matter what I do, we are family and nothing else matters….though I wish my number one daughter somewhere in Canada would write me more often…though I do know that having two children under six does get trying at times! Here is her latest “kelohan” or complain about them!

Izzy: "Mummy, where is my snow white doll?"

Me: "In the pink box."

Izzy: "What pink box?"

Me: "The pink box in your play area - the only pink box there. (I point straight at it.) This one."

Izzy: "That's not pink. It's white with pink stripes."

This is what I'm dealing with people.

Sofie: "My socks dirty, mummy."

Me: "Really?"

Sofie (throwing them in my direction): "Wash them." (walks back to watch her cartoons.)

And the little dark lord has finally risen. 

And that my friends are some of the comings and going on in my life. Not too eventful but still interesting for a sixty five year of guy here in Oz. Salam!  

When the Law is not as Ass

With thanks to TL


The law is the law and when the judge took off his hat, what he has done is just like a normal kind person just like you and me!

I applaud this judge, he must have studied in UK and read Shakespere, "The quality of mercy is not strained, it drops as the gentle rain from heaven... " We must have judges with a heart like this in Singapore too.

When justice is tempered with mercy
March 5, 2012 



English translation:

An Indonesian judge by the name of Marzuki was sitting in judgment of an old lady who pleaded guilty of stealing some tapioca from a plantation. In her defense, she pleaded to the judge that she was done the deed because she was poor and her son was sick while her grandchild was hungry. The plantation manager insisted that she be punished as a deterrent to others.

The judge going through the documents then look up and said to the old lady, “I’m sorry but I cannot make any exception to the law and you must be punished.” The old lady was fined Rp. 1 million (USD 100) and if she could not pay the fine then she will be jailed for 2 and a half years as demanded by the law. She wept as she could not pay the fine. 

The judge then took off his hat and put in Rp. 1 million into the hat and said “In the name of justice, I fined all who are in the court Rp. 50 thousand (USD 5.50) as dwellers of this city and letting a child to starve until her grandmother have to steal to feed her grandchild. The  registrar will now collect the fines from all the accused.”

The court managed to collect Rp 3.5 million (USD 200) whereby once the fine was paid off, the rest was given to the old lady ….including the fine collected from the plantation manager. 
WILL WE EVER SEE SUCH A HAPPENING IN OUR MALAYSIAN COURTS?