E Contrario

Sivaras (left), Beh Li Yi(Malaysiakini reporter), Colin Nicholas(right)

Our civil suit against the Malaysian Royal Police (PDRM) in APCET2 continued on 20-21 June. The case is heard by Judge Wan Adnan Muhamad. The case has gone on far too long, so much so that the judge is losing patience with the slow pace of the proceeding.

The problem is due to the ill preparation of the defense counsels. Federal Counsel Morhaji who took over the case midway was repetitive and tiresome in his line of cross examination. We sensed that he must be quite nervous and tense.

On the plaintiffs’ side, our lawyers agreed with the judge to cut short the proceeding by not repeating the established facts. We decided to reduce our witnesses to the final few, that is from 20 over persons to 6.

On Wednesday noon, Sivarasa Rasiah took the stand to give his testimony. The Federal Counsel Morhaji Selamat went on the same tract objecting to the testimony of Sivarasa. Justice Adnan then reminded the counsel that whatever Siva presented were accepted facts and he should not waste court time.

The judge reproached Morhaji: “the facts have been said by earlier witnesses, do you want to repeat the same story again and again?” The judge reiterated that the conference, the scuffle, arrest and detention were all adopted facts, the core issue here the claim for compensation. The defence just has to prove whether the police had acted legally or appropriately.

Wordless and unable to proceed, Morhaji gave way to Senior Federal Counsel Iznan Ishak to continue cross-examining Siva. Iznan then harped on APCET organizers defied the advice by Megat Junid not to hold the conference. The judge disallowed the questioning: “What relevance is Megat Junid’s instruction in this case?”

“We already knew the minister disagreed with the conference, did the organizers need his approval to hold the conference?”

“Adakah apa yang dikata oleh menteri mesti betul?” the judge teased the defence counsel, “ada kala menteri pun tak cakap betul.”

When he saw Iznan struggling through Siva’s written witness statement during the cross examination. The judge asked, “Did you study the witness statement thoroughly?”

Appeared to be irritated by Iznan’s lack of preparation. He order the defence counsel to stop.

Justice Wan Adnan decided to adjourn the session. “Come back to continue the cross examination tomorrow,” said the judge, “when you study properly”.

The plaintiff legal team in court: Ranjit Singh, Moganambal, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Abdul Rashid Ismail, Gregory Ling and Amelly Kok.