Message from Matthias Chang

To My Dearest Friends and Colleagues,

I have fought against injustice throughout my life and as a practising lawyer, upholding justice when there are abuses by the judiciary and the state machinery calls for sacrifices and I have never shirk from that call to duty.

On Thursday, I became a victim of injustice inflicted by an errant Judge in the High Court of Malaya.

In this case, I was the litigant, the plaintiff suing the defendant, American Express for defamation, malicious falsehood, breach of contract and misrepresentation. It relates to a charge I had incurred for and on behalf of the Malaysian Government some years back for which the Government has not paid.

Most of you are aware of my opposition to the previous regime headed by the 5th Prime Minister. In the course of that political fight, I had to defend Tun Mahathir for which I was sued for RM 50 million allegedly for defaming one of the cronies of the regime. I counter-claimed against that crony likewise for defamation against me and exposed his corruption in conjunction with the son-in-law of the then Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi. My defence against the RM 50 million claim was justification, the crony was corrupt to the rotten core. The case has been in limbo ever since.

Therefore, this case that came up for hearing is not as simple as it looks. There were forces ready to pounce and humiliate me at every turn.

THE CASE:

From the word go, my three Counsels were treated without due respect.

1) My Counsel was denied the right to make an Opening Statement, a right which every litigant has.

2) I was called to testify immediately.

3) Bearing in mind that my claim was in defamation and malicious falsehood, it was incumbent on my Counsels to lead evidence on my background as a barrister and an advocate for over 30 years and my service in government as political secretary to the 4th Prime Minister. Immediately the judge pounced on me and declared everyone before her court will be treated equally and I had no need to declare my past and or the need to "impress" her. She further said that "so what if I was previously the political secretary to the Prime Minister and a senior lawyer of over 30 years experience."

4) My Counsel objected and told her that reputation is needed to be established for the purposes of a claim for damages etc. He was told to proceed and go on to the next issue.

5) In giving evidence, whenever I had to refer to an exhibit and or an admission made by the defendant in support of my answers, I was accused of "submitting to her" and she abused me as trying to conduct my evidence as a lawyer and not as a witness. Again, objections by my three Counsels were overruled and when so overruling my Counsels, banged the table with her right hand.

6) The Judge repeatedly accused my Counsels of not "doing their work" and such remark seemed to be always on cue when Defendant Counsel makes any objections. This lawyer is also the lawyer acting for the crony of Abdullah Badawi in the defamation suit for RM 50 million against me.

7) This hostile exchange went on till lunch break. I had not by that time finished with my testimony. During the lunch break and unknown to me, the judge summoned the defendant's counsel and my lead counsel to her chambers and declared that I had no case and she will dismiss my claim.

8) My Counsel informed me of this development while I was having my lunch.

9) When Court resumed, I requested an audience with the judge in her chambers with all parties present to make a formal complaint to spare her the embarrassment of a public complaint. The Judge refused my request.

10) The Judge resumed the hearing in Open Court, whereupon I addressed the Court and said:

"I have no wish to continue with the proceedings as I have no confidence in the impartiality of the Court. My three counsels have been repeatedly abused by you. You have also abused me and cast unwarranted aspersions on my character without basis. In my over 30 years of practice, no judge has ever abused me and or was rude to me. I intend to make a complaint to the Chief Justice and would now take leave and retire."

I said this in a very firm and deliberate manner.

IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT IN MALAYSIAN COURTS, PROCEEDINGS ARE RECORDED LIVE, AND AT THE END OF THE PROCEEDINGS, WE ARE GIVEN A COPY OF THE VIDEO RECORDING.

11) The judge remarked and warned me that my conduct has been recorded. To that I replied that likewise her abusive behaviour was also recorded.

12) Whereupon, the Counsel for the defendant stood up and shouted, "This is contempt! Arrest him! Arrest him!" and cited Order 51 of the Rules (which by the way does not provide such measures).

13) The Judge incited by that lawyer, directed the police officer in attendance to arrest me and place me in custody in the Lock-up at the basement of the Court Complex.

14) The professionalism of the police officer was such that he did not handcuff me, but merely invited me to follow him. In the course of our short walk to the lock-up, he said that he was stunned and was disappointed with the behaviour of the judge towards a senior lawyer.

POINT TO NOTE: IN ACCORDANCE WITH MALAYSIAN LAW, I HAD NOT COMMITTED ANY CRIME AT THAT STAGE TO WARRANT ANY ARREST, MORE SO ONE INSTIGATED BY A LAWYER. AN ALLEGED CONTEMPT AT THAT STAGE IS NOT AN ARRESTABLE OFFENCE. MORE OF THIS LATER.

15) When we reached the basement, I was invited to sit on a sofa and was not placed in a cell. He enquired whether I would like to have lunch and or refreshments and was most concerned about my well-being. I asked for permission to use my cell phone to contact another Counsel to defend me in this matter. The officer readily gave his consent.

16) I immediately called my friend and fellow colleague, Mr. Zainur Zakaria who is also the Acting Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission.

17) When I narrated the events on the phone to him, he was utterly shocked and asked me, "Was there any charge for contempt? Was a charge prepared and read out to you? Was any plea taken?"

I replied, "None whatsoever ... I am wrongfully arrested."

18) Zainur rushed to my cell from his office which was five minutes away from the Court Complex.

19) Zainur went to the Court and told the judge that I cannot be arrested for contempt when there has been no charge and no plea taken, and most importantly no conviction. Zainur knew the law as he had faced a similar experience some years ago.

20) The Judge went to her chambers, prepared the charges and resumed sitting in Open Court.

21) She read the charge to me and if my memory serves me right, this is what she read out, "You lost your cool and left the court premises. This is contempt (The video would verify the exact words). How do you plead?"

I responded, "Not Guilty."

22) Zainur requested an adjournment till the next day ? Friday to prepare my defence. The Judge refused and demanded that I defend myself.

23) I told the judge that she had abused the lawyers and me and as such I am not in contempt.

24) She proceeded to convict me and asked for my mitigation. I said there is nothing to mitigate and that I intend to appeal against her decision. She then proceeded to impose sentence: RM20,000 to be paid within a week, failing which one month's jail.

The Judge also directed that the trial of my claim would continue the next day and if I am not present, she will proceed to dismiss my claim.

25) On Friday, my Counsel made an application for the Judge to recuse herself on the grounds of her behaviour on the previous day as well as having convicted me of contempt. She refused and disposed the case in my absence. My Counsel was asked to discharge themselves.

THIS SUMS UP WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED.

The judicial system is rotten, but I had in the past tried to reform by working within the system and held back my open criticisms.

I never expected to be a victim of the system. If this can happen to me, what more the poor and or unrepresented litigant.

It seems that there have been many cases of abuse by this Judge but the Chief Justice did not take any action.

MY FAMILY IS 100% BEHIND ME ON THIS MATTER.

I have no intention to pay the fine. I am also considering not even appealing as I have no confidence in the Appellate Courts. Should there be an appeal, they could do a white wash and uphold the conviction to protect one of their members. The public would be confused and may even think that I was indeed wrong in opposing the abuse. They may also be cowed in the future in any opposition to similar abuse.

I am therefore preparing myself to go to jail and hopefully, my incarceration would arouse the conscience of the people to stand up and fight against an injustice. An action that has been DELAYED FOR TOO LONG.

I appeal to all of you for your understanding and support and I seek your assistance that my plight be given the widest publicity as possible.

You can do so by writing to: -

1) The Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib bin Tun Razak

Fax: +603-88880142 or +603-88887711
Political Secretary's Fax: +603-88883971

2) President Bar Council, Malaysia
Fax: +603-20261313

3) Chief Justice, The Rt Hon. Tun Dato Seri Zaki Bin Tun Azmi
Chief Justice Chambers
Federal Court of Malaysia
Istana Kehakiman
Precinct 3, 62506 Putrajaya
Malaysia
Email: normazaida@kehakiman.gov.my

4) Chief Judge of the High Court of Malaya
The Rt Hon. Tan Sri Arrifin Bin Zakaria
Chief Judge Chambers
Federal Court of Malaysia
Istana Kehakiman
Precinct 3, 62506 Putrajaya
Malaysia
Email: noridah@kehakiman.gov.my

The week for payment of the fine ends on Wednesday - 31st March 2010

I intend to surrender myself at the Court premises. produce the RM20,000 to establish evidence that I have the means to pay, but will not pay and rather be sent to jail in defiance of the injustice inflicted on me by this errant and abusive Judge.

I thank you all for your support.

As ever,

Matthias

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Bookkeeper who keeps and a lawyer who cheats

But first, the basics of bookkeeping which modern accountants need not learn because of computerized accounting systems.

There was once an old bookkeeper who was often asked when someone could not understand or unsure of which side was Debit and which side was Credit. Each time when asked, he would pull out his drawer and then gave the answer. His colleagues used to wonder what was in his drawer which could be so useful in his definitive answer. One day, one of them stealthily looked into his drawer when he walked out for a short while. In it was a note written, 'Debit is where the door is. Credit is where the window is' or something to that effect (trust my memory).

Then there was an institution where Accounting was taught. The partners went one step further by having cars parked in the right order with registration letters... DR and CR in the parking lot in front of the building.

But this story is about a deaf bookkeeper who found his nemesis in a lawyer:

A Mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper has cheated him out of $10 million bucks. His book-keeper is deaf. That was the reason he got the job in the first place. It was assumed that a deaf bookkeeper would not hear anything that he might have to testify about in court.

When the Godfather goes to confront the bookkeeper about his missing $10 million, he brings along his attorney, who knows sign language.

The Godfather tells the lawyer, 'Ask him where the $10 million he embezzled from me is.'
The attorney, using sign language, asks the bookkeeper where the money is. The bookkeeper signs back: 'I don't know what you are talking about.'

The attorney tells the Godfather: 'He says he doesn't know what you're talking about.'

The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it to the bookkeeper's temple and says, 'Ask him again!'

The attorney signs to the book-keeper: 'He'll kill you if you don't tell him!'

The bookkeeper signs back: 'OK! OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo's backyard in Queens!'

The Godfather asks the attorney: 'Well, what did he say?'

The attorney replies: 'He says you don't have the guts to pull the trigger.'

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Common sense approach to deal with a fake medium

I chanced upon the article below, because of its unusual title, and more so, in a site like Loyarburok where we would expect mainly legal discourse.

Luang Pu Mee Chai

http://loyarburok.com/human-rights/pray-for-me-human-rights/luang-pu-mee-chai/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Loyarburok+(LoyarBurok)

June Low's experience reminds me of my encounter with a 'mun mai' (Cantonese for a medium who can communicate with spirits, especially of ancestors) when a niece's in-laws wanted to find out more about their late mother and a brother.

My niece heard about this 'Pak Yee' (white clothed) medium in Ipoh and we sourced out the place and telephone numbers for her to make an appointment.

On the appointed day, we went together but we sat outside a fenced enclosure where we could see and hear what was going on.

The medium asked many questions but I could tell they were meant to source information. When asked questions, she tended to be evasive like, 'I do not talk about those who did not come', 'this session is so important that every family member should attend', etc. After much questions which did not elicit satisfactory answers, my niece's sister-in-law posed a question about her eldest brother. The answer given by the medium was so obvious that she did not know that he died some time ago! What was expected was some connection between the dead mother and her dead son, but there was none at all!

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With sex, it's the illusion that matters...

The story:

A couple were invited to a swanky family masked fancy dress Halloween party.

The wife got a terrible headache and told her husband to go to the party alone.

He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she argued and said she was going to take some aspirin and go to bed and there was no need for his good time to be spoiled by not going.

So he took his costume and away he went. The wife, after sleeping soundly for about an hour, woke without pain and as it was still early, decided go to the party.

As her husband didn't know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him.

So she joined the party and soon spotted her husband in his costume, cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with every nice "chick" he could and cupping a little feel here and a little kiss there.

His wife went up to him and decided to play a seductive babe herself, he left his new partner high and dry and devoted his time to her.

She let him go as far as he wished, naturally, since he was her husband.

After more drinks he finally whispered a little proposition in her ear and she agreed, so off they went to one of the cars and had passionate love in the back seat.

Just before unmasking at midnight, she slipped away and went home and put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation he would make up for his outrageous behaviour.

She was sitting up reading when he came in, so she asked what kind of time he had. "Oh, the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you're not there."

Then she asked, "Did you dance much?" He replied, "I'll tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the spare room and played poker all evening"

"You must have looked really silly wearing that costume playing poker all night!" she said with unashamed sarcasm - anger seeping in now, wondering what was coming next...

To which the husband replied, "Actually, I gave my costume to my Boss, apparently he had the best screw of his life."

The proof:

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Choice between Heaven and Hell...

While walking down the street one day a Bolehland Minister is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I have made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Yang Berhormat

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules," says St. Peter.

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and dressed in the finest batik there is. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then indulge themselves on lobsters, caviar and the most expensive food there is.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it' s time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the Yang Berhormat joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Yang Berhormat reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think Ai yam better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

"I don't understand," stammers the Yang Berhormat. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning just like you did (full of lies and deceit) during an election... Today you voted."

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