I Was Charged At Session Court! Almost.
Kidding. I wasn’t charged, but I was at the Session Court for work. Heh!
1. No slippers, shorts, skirts, T-shirts or any attire that is too casual.
2. Switch off handphones before you enter any court room.
3. Bow to the judge when you enter / leave the court room.
4. No leg crossing when you are sitting in the room.
5. Avoid talking, giggling, joking, SMS-ing, reading newspaper or anything in the court room.
You can be fined by the police if you break the rules. There will be at least 2 polices throughout the listening session.
Seatings in the court is as below :
Yellow - Judge
Orange - Translator / Secretary (I think there’s a proper name for this.)
Red - Defendants’ lawyers (The one being charged.)
Green - Plaintiffs’ lawyers (The one charging.)
Blue - Medias / Reporters / Police
Purple - Only civils / crimes cases would require the defendant to sit inside the enclosed box.
Brown - Defendants will stand here throughout the listening.
Grey - Audience.
The process.
1. A buzz sound can be heard moments before the judge comes into the room. “Bzzzttt…”
2. A police will say “Bangunnnnnn……” until the judge sits down, while everyone stands up and bows.
3. Hearing starts.
4. The secretary will read out the charges filed by the plaintiff.
5. Both defendant’s and plaintiff’s lawyers will present whatever notes / slides / arguments / pictures they have to the judge.
6. The judge will then take a 30 to 40 minutes break.
7. Repeat steps 1 to 4.
8. Both parties’ lawyers will present their final arguments.
9. Judge will decide the fine or jail term. (No hammering in Session Court. Only in High Court.)
Note :
Usually, there will be at least 5 cases to be heard at one session.
Thanks to Jase Lee’s question, I realized, the lawyers and judges don’t wear wigs. Not sure about High Court though.
In Chinese dramas, the “polices” will say “威武”. In Malaysia, it’s “Bangunnn……”. -lol-
Basically, that’s about it.
Little incidents that happened when I was at the court / lockup. There’s a lockup behind the building, where they will lock the criminals before they are lead to the court / when they are brought into the court.
Supervisor : “Tuan, tadi aku tak sempat tangkap gambar orang tu lah!”
Police : “Yakah? Tunggu sekejap. Aku pergi ambil dia, dan aku bawa dia masuk sekali lagi dan kamu tangkaplah!”
Supervisor : “Ok.”
Jason : “What the…”
Supervisor : “It happens, sometimes when you missed the chance, you can ask them to take the person out again and react the scene (When the criminal just arrived and is about to be taken into lockup.).”
Jason : “A bit cheating leh!”
After the listening, my colleague was trying to take pictures of 2 defendants, coming out from the court.
1 went hiding when he saw the camera pointing at him while 1 questioned my colleague.
Defendant : “Why you take my picture?” -loud voice-
Colleague : “……” -big grins, while eyes looking at some other place.-Defendant : “Why you take my picture?” -pissed off tone-
Colleague : “……” -big grins, while eyes looking at some other place.-Supervisor : “We are from the press.”
Defendant : “……: -walks away-Jason : “Why colleague slumber only, somemore with that cheeky grin and that I-took-your-picture-already-and-you-cannot-do-anything face?”
Supervisor : “Haha… This one nothing lah. My female photographer got chased and bashed up when I was working in KL. The guy even showed us the middle finger.”
Jason : “……”
No wonder they say court is a dramatic and full of stories place.
P/S : Please correct me if there’s any mistakes.
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September 26th, 2006 22:34
wow… good experience…
thanks for sharing…
September 27th, 2006 00:53
wah..scare me lar ur post…fuh fuh fuh…
so next time u got experience in the court lor?? wan to be a lawyer?
September 27th, 2006 02:50
lucky you, haha - if you were a lil unlucky - after the bzzzt thing the secretary comes out and says the Judge is on a leave, all hearing will be postphone after 2 weeks time …hahaha
it happened to me once …
September 27th, 2006 03:06
LOL not “Uhmmmmmmm… ” lah !!
“Uhummmm” is produced when the police batuk tak terhenti-henti akibat rokok atau telah memakan ayam goreng secara melampau ok ? Or perhaps when someone did not zip his pants, then the police will make ” Uhummmm !”
It should be ” Bangunnnnnnnn ! ” so that everyone will arise, sign of respect to the judge or masjistret walks into the court room. No need to applause though.
And never let your mobile phone ring in the court room. Else, you will die painfully or even worst, see your mobile phone die in million pcs lol !!
September 27th, 2006 08:48
i hatteee it when people do that.. try to con people into a nice interesting topic only to disappoint everyone else by saying “i’m kidding”… diuuu
at least now i know never to fall for topics like
“i lost my virginity”
hah!
September 27th, 2006 13:09
Ta Wen : It is. Welcome.
Milly : Haha. Lawyer? Cannot lah.
Earl Ku : LOL. Everyone must be dumbfucked that time.
Kai Hong : I didn’t hear “Bangunnnnn!” ler, all I heard was “Ummmmmm!” Must be the police no teeth, 讲话漏风. LOL. Yaloh, they can fine you and take away your phone without giving you back.
Boss Stewie : Ahaks… Try to con people like you to read my blog mah! :D
September 27th, 2006 14:18
all the best in your future court writeups. i don’t tink i’ll enjoy what you experienced.
September 27th, 2006 14:47
讲话漏风?! XD
September 27th, 2006 17:35
no crossing leg? can i cough??????? whahah
September 27th, 2006 19:07
Did you see those people with fully white wig? I always wondered if our Malaysian court have them when they are doing court session.
September 27th, 2006 19:15
Ei….so dramatic wan!! I love your line of work!! So In Te Res Ting!!
lallala
quick!! Spare me some time to literati!!
September 27th, 2006 19:50
Ivan : Rather than saying enjoy the experience, why not treat it as learning something new or get to see something that you usually won’t get to see? :)
Tze Shan : :P
Cely : Can lah, but don’t cough loudly lah.
Jase Lee : Now that you mention, I don’t see any wigs. Not the lawyers, not the chief judge too. Not sure about High Courts though.
Alicia : Yalah, very dramatic. And today got a guy got charged with 98 charges. This one comfirm going into jail.
September 27th, 2006 22:53
Jason : “A bit cheating leh!”
LoL…there is a lot cheating in every field.
Event in Live Broadcast show.
I experienced that.
September 28th, 2006 13:46
yikes… the funny rules make it look like people who enter the court must have no life. haha… what a shock.
September 28th, 2006 16:40
Aw too bad, I was expecting ours to be more consistent with the court overseas. Imagine you seeing the Hong Kong court drama: “Fatt Kun Thai Yan!”, or British “Your honour”, I expect there should be some wigs experience in our homeland.
September 28th, 2006 17:35
MengZ : I guess everyone cheats, no matter in what field you are.
Debbie : LOL. True true…
Jase Lee : A lawyer friend of mine told me that Malaysia’s judges/lawyers don’t wear wigs anymore. Haha! We got fooled by those Hong Kong dramas.