All RISE!!

Today was one off those days when something wonderful but totally unexpected happened. The night before, I was asked by a friend to help a friend of a friend with a problem in which her friend had to appear to the courts. The story goes is that this friend had a run with the law and as a foreigner the police tried to bribe him. Following their failure to extort from him the issued him a warrant of appearance.

The problem arised when the said friend had an exam on he date an time of the appearance. We decided to go early to the IPK Malacca to inform them that our friend could not attend the appearance. Once we were there we were told that we could not send such a letter as the court hearing was in an hour. We explained that as a foreigner he did not know the Malaysian legal system.


Dejected we decided to have breakfast. Half way through we got a call from a friend’s dad stating that we should go to the court hearing and ask for a new subpoena. If not the court would issue a warrant of arrest.So we all went to the Makhamah Magistrate Air Keroh. Upon reaching there we were told to go to the Magistrate Court 1 which was the Traffic Court. We then gave the warrant of appearance to the bailiff. We waited for three hours before the court heard our case by then most cases were already decided. Let’s say nervous did not cover the magnitude of what I was feeling. As usual, I’m always terrified of doing something new in which I have this deep fear of humiliating myself publicly.

So it was with great trepidation that I approached the bench. I gave my IC and asked permission from the court to speak English as I knew I would totally be a mess if I were to speak Malay. I said I was representing my friend as he could not attend the hearing as he had an exam. With that I gave the court a copy of his exam certificate and student id and a copy of his Malaysian Immigration ID. The court asked my relationship with the accused and I said I was a friend and with that I gave my student ID proving I was a student. I then told the court that my friend just finished his exam and that he was on is way. The court to my surprise said that they would wait for him to come. Man! I was left speechless. Thinking I would get a new court hearing I was going to have to prepare my friend in minutes.


I was left waiting for my friend a half an hour all the while praying that he would come. I confess that I was afraid that this friend might have left me stranded. Afraid I might get a contempt of court I urged my friend to call him. But I was proved wrong as he showed up later and explained he was late due to the fact that he got lost. The bailiff was already sneering at me. He then had uttered these words: ‘kau ni nak klentong makhamah ke? MMU tu tak jauh! Apa yang lambat sangat ni?’ Suffice to say I was glad when he arrived.

After waiting for another 20 minutes my friend was called to appear before the court. Due to his lack of understanding of the Malay language I was allowed to approach the court and help translate the legalese. He was charged under 2 counts. After explaining the charges he pleaded guilty on 2 counts.

I then pleaded to the court for a lighter sentence as this case was a matter of circumstances and furthermore my friend was a first time offender. It was to our amazement that the court gave him a very light sentence due to the situation. A fine of RM100 was issued for each count.


Well my mom always said that a good deed never went unrewarded and it will always be with me that my first appearance before the court. It was a simple traffic case but it gave me confidence that no debate or mock trail in class ever could.