Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
However, Najib appeared to dispel any fallout between him and Shafee, saying that the latter would still act for him in other cases and was only discharged for the SRC appeal.
He
expressed his “confidence that the new team that has been assembled
will bring different perspectives” to his defence, although it is hard
to see what these new views would be.
Last avenue
Najib
was convicted by the High Court of various offences in the SRC case and
sentenced to 12 years in jail and total fines of RM210 million on July
28, 2020. A three-person Court of Appeal upheld the conviction on Dec 8
last year, making the Federal Court appeal his last avenue.
Strangely, one of the partners of Najib’s new firm of lawyers is none other than Zaid Ibrahim who only last month urged the Federal Court to consider Najib’s allegations of conflict of interest, which was dismissed by the High Court.
He
called on the Federal Court to take a “serious look” into Najib’s
application to nullify his conviction in the SRC International case
because of the trial judge’s alleged conflict of interest.
“If
there is even a shred of evidence, and the authorities should be able to
verify this quite easily, that proves there was a conflict of interest
on the part of the judge who convicted Najib, then the conviction must
be nullified,” Zaid Ibrahim said on June 11.
Former minister Zaid Ibrahim
This
seemed to have just about set the stage for his firm to take over the
case in the announcement yesterday. But Zaid has previously criticised
Najib and called for his resignation.
In 2015 for instance, he called for a 100,000 strong rally
to press for Najib’s resignation. He said: “I hope leaders such as
Mahathir, Kit Siang, (PKR president) Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, (former
deputy premier) Muhyiddin Yassin, (former PAS deputy president) Mohamad
Sabu, Azmin (Ali) as well as others will stand together on the stage to
declare to the people that despite their political differences, they
will unite to save Malaysia.”
"These leaders should not allow
those who steal and plunder the nation's wealth to get away. They must
show the people the power of solidarity against corruption and abuse of
power. They must restore our faith in our police and our
Attorney-General's Chambers," he said.
It seems incongruous for
him to support Najib now over the controversial issue of a conflict of
interest with the High Court judge who sentenced him in the SRC trial.
Rear-guard actions
Najib
and his lawyers have been fighting rear-guard actions to avoid facing
the inevitable, which is whether the Federal Court will find him guilty
too.
The judiciary has demonstrated exceeding patience in terms of
medical certificates, dog bites, numerous legal challenges, accusing
the judge of a conflict of interest at a very late stage, the
application for a QC, and now this.
One must think that it was in
the interest of justice - for Najib. It is time to consider that time is
itself an issue in the interest of justice for the rest of us and the
nation.
For the Federal Court, the immediate concern is to
determine if they should further postpone the appeal hearings. As Najib
himself said, the new lawyers can bring new perspectives, which means
that they have already been studying the case.
Even if new lawyers
were appointed just yesterday without at all looking at the case, an
extremely unlikely situation, they still have 19 days and a full team to
work on it before the appeal - lots of time for competent lawyers to
come out with a case. This is not a full trial, mind you.
It may
be worthwhile in this whole sorry episode to point out two relevant
rules of the Legal Profession (Practice and Etiquette) Rules 1978.
Rule 6. An advocate and solicitor not to accept brief if unable to appear.
(a)
An advocate and solicitor shall not accept any brief unless he is
reasonably certain of being able to appear and represent the client on
the required day.
Rule 12. Advocate and solicitor not to conduct civil case intended to delay proceedings etc.
An
advocate and solicitor shall not conduct a civil case or make a defence
which is intended merely to delay proceedings or to harass or injure
the opposite party or to work oppression or wrong.
The public
waits with bated breath for the Federal Court’s decision and fully
expects that the cause of justice will be served by their decision.
