A good friend of mine who was a KL
court regular once told me a story of a friend of his who was also a legal
practitioner whose name I had forgotten. Let us just call him John.
Now, John had a full trial on one
particular morning at one of the high courts in KL Court Complex, and he was
already in court and had everything ready. His cross exam questions, the bundles,
the file itself and his stationeries and stacks of A4 printing papers
which he used for writing on. No pads or laptops for him for old school was his
school.
He was ready to rumble that morning
except for the fact that he could not find his bands. That polyester thing you
have wrapped around your neck when you have a matter in High Court. He had
somehow lost the thing despite having turned his car upside down looking for
it. Robed up but still not completely dressed for open court according to the
dress code, all for want of a pair of bands.
The clock showed that it is 5
minutes to 9 am. No time for him to beg for, borrow or rent a pair of bands
from anyone or anywhere before the Court is in session. The old adage that
necessity is the mother of all inventions hold true that morning. He had the ingenuity
and quickness of mind in the 5 minutes to remember that he had a stack of A4
papers with him and that the dress code only requires robe and bands (or bib)
for open court matter in High Court. It was never specified what kind of band
it should be. After a quick snip snap there with a pair of scissors and a bit
of sellotape , Lo and Behold! A PAIR OF DISPOSABLE BANDS!
He had the peculiar pair of bands on
throughout the trial that day, it was not known whether he carried the day. If
the Yang Arif noticed that John’s bands looked out of the ordinary he was too
well bred to say anything about it, after all suspicion is not proof. Same goes
with John’s fellow practitioners in the courtroom and his opponent who saw the creation of the pair of bands. At
all times one must keep in mind the legal maxim that what the law does not
prohibit, it allows. Who is to challenge the authenticity of John’s pair of
bands even if it is abnormally papery (arguably of natural fiber origin instead
of the usual polyester) when the maker is present in court? It looks like a pair of bands ergo it is a
pair of bands.
Upon the telling of the tale, we who
sat around the table hooted and sniggered and chuckled and sipped on our Teh Tarik
for we were at the court cafeteria, and it was the time between the old (criminal)
cases are called at 9 am and new ones are called at around 10 or 11.30 am.
Enough time for tea and a smoke. The table moved on to another juicy lawyerly gossip
and I treated the story as one of those you hear but no one can confirm it
really happen: fiction so to speak. However in time, it was for me to turn
fiction into fact.
Years and years later I had a simple
withdrawal of representation hearing at one of KL’s High Court by way of Zoom
and I elected to attend it at my room in the office as I had cause papers to draft
and legal opinions to issue afterwards. I had the hearing cause paper and my
robes ready but for the life of me I cannot locate the darned bands. Just so
happens that no one else in the office had their bands with them on that particular day. It
wouldn’t be so bad if it happened at KL Court as you can rent a pair of bands from
the Bar Room or buy a new one at the bookshop at B1. Sometimes I do feel like
it is my lot in life for all these incidences to happen to me but bemoaning my
Fate will not change anything. While I was cracking my brains, turning my car
upside down in search of the missing bands, thinking where in the world can I
find a spare pair of bands within 10 minutes, the story came back to me and I
thought to myself:
Why not? It is worth a try. I have at least 10 minutes
before the hearing and we do have boxes of A4 paper for the printer/photocopier
and I do have a pair of scissors, somewhere.
So there I was, attending a hearing
with a pair of paper bands of my own fashioning, all the while trying to remain
stock still to make sure that the damned thing won’t look too suspiciously
handmade on video. I even switched off the AC to avoid any unwanted fluttering.
If the judge noticed it, he said nothing about it. The hearing concluded and I
taped the paper bands to my wall as a reminder that sometimes things can go
wrong and we must make do with what we have and that sometimes, a pair of paper
bands are better than no bands at all.
Ever since then I have always made
sure my bands are where I knew they would be within reach and I keep a spare
ream of A4 paper handy. Just in case.
Note:
Bar Council Circular No
004/2012 states that the Male Attire among others should consist of:
Kemeja Lengan panjang warna putih
dengan wing collar warna putih dan bib.
(Shirt) White long sleeves with white
wing collar and bib.
