"they will sumpah you in the kandang"

i had to give a statement in court the other day for an abuse case i handled years ago.
somebody gave me advice on what to expect when i'm in court, "they will bring you into the kandang, and then they will sumpah you.. after they sumpah you, then you sit, and they will start asking you questions.."
those are her exact words.
what she was trying to tell me is that they will bring me onto the witness chair and ask me to angkat sumpah ..
hehe.

anyway, so here's what happened. it was the first time i ever went to court for anything. i was kinda nervous. in the witness room, i saw the patient's mother, who gave me this advice, "doc, you better say your prayers.. these people sometimes play dirty, and they might voodoo you, you know. that's what happened to me last time, after the lawyer asked me the questions, i suddenly got stomach cramps, i had palpitations, and i just stuttered.. they had to postpone the trials last time! you be careful up there doc!"
umm.. right, the symptoms she described could easily be attributed to nerves, but i didnt tell her that and just nodded my head.

after a 2-hour wait, i was finally called in.
the "angkat sumpah" part went well.
then before i sat down, this lady sitting in front of the judge (the sign on her desk said she's the translator) asked me to say my name outloud.
so i did.
then they asked me to state my age outloud.
so i did.
and to my surprise, she actually repeated the number again, in a much louder voice.
umm..why is that? i had to prevent myself from smirking.
then, she asked me to state my current home address.
i was again, surprised, but did as told. the judge and lawyers copied evrything down in writing, and the judge even made me repeat the address.
umm.. ok.. i know the alleged perpetrator was in the courtroom, and although i was called in as an "expert witness", my statements would actually be working "against" him, and voodoo/black magic aside, isnt giving out my full residing address to the room "risky"? i wonder if they ask all witness in all cases to do this...
like i said..this is only my first experience in court. hopefully it's the last.

another interesting observation in there was that, there was no transcriber/stenographer available. therefore, whenever i said anything, the judge and lawyers all got busy jotting down my words.. there were no eye contacts at all at the time, and i was reminded to speak slowly cuz "we have to write down what you say". so i did, pausing once in awhile till one of them looked up to me to ask me to continue.
even the lawyer who was asking me the questions, would immediately look down again and feverishly wrote all my answers, while he/she was still standing!
it was so unlike on tv!
i felt like putting up my hand and ask "isnt there supposed to be a transcriber-person-with-the-tiny-typewriter that can help you take down everything?"

i felt soo "jakun" with everything that i was no longer nervous, and by the time we were halfway done, i was already, surprisingly, bored!
i caught myself looking at my watch and rolling my eyes once, and then realized "shoot..what if they have a cctv in here and saw me doing that?"

anyway, about 40 mins later i was released from the kandang.
hopefully that was the last time i ever have to enter such "kandangs" ;)
i dont know if my statements were actually of any help at all, or whether the case is finally closed or whether the victim (my patient) won. i also dont know for sure whether the alleged perpetrator in the case was really guilty, there is no way i can be 100% sure, unless i was actually at the scene of the crime when it happened. the only thing that was evident to me was that the girl was obviously emotionally affected, and at the time, there was medical evidence suggestive of a rape. i have no idea if the lawyers or police had any other evidence.
i can only pray for justice to be served.
and glad that i'm not a lawyer.

kids?no kids?-part deux

i got "fired" by my friends pretty bad when i told them about my decision to not have any human kids of my own. they wouldnt hear a word from me when i tried to explain. of course, i realized too late that making the announcement when we all met at a friend's house to see her 2 month old newborn is probably not the best idea. also not the best answer to give when people you havent seen for awhile asked "so, what's new with you?".
sigh.

i should clarify here that this is something i've decided on should i manage to stay single my whole life. if, however, God has other plans for me, ie. marriage, then having a child then would be a blessing.

TQ.

perak, rihanna: unrelated hops

yea..yea.. i'm aware of what's been going on with the politics in msia currently.
the party hops, the perak, the daulat, etc.
i was just back in perak (my ma's hometown-ulu kinta) pun actually.
but aiyoh..dont even feel like commenting anything about the whole huhah.
malas.

was planning to hop down to rihanna's concert this friday. but the gurl got herself in a fight or somethin' with her boyfriend, i'm not sure what.. so now the show's got postponed to an unspecified date.
dang.. now i cant party no-mo ;)
well at least the people who didnt want her to come here in the 1st place got their wish.
hmm..just had a thought..
this morning, fly fm was asking people to call in and share with them what they think was the "conspiracy theory" behind rihanna & chris brown's fiasco.
some people said rihanna was jealous la, that chris was getting too close to another girl la, that it was done on purpose, just to get more publicity for themselves (really?seriously?), etc etc.
my theory: sumpahan selangor.
longshot, i know.
gimme a break.

trip to temasek

a.k.a singapore.
for those who didnt know that the country used to be called that in the old days.

i didnt travel out of malaysia at all last year. i like to use the bloody exams as my excuse, and though i still have to sit for it again this year *yawn* i decided to up and leave anyway. even if it means just across the tebrau straits to nearby singapore.

last i set foot on the country was 14-15? years ago i think. a school trip. on a bus. slept at a mosque. that's all i remember (gosh).

anyway, this time i took the bus again, but from jb, into singapore. it was really convenient i tell ya. we went on a sunday, the 3 of us (east, lote, moi), after leaving my car at my aunt's place (whom i havent seen for more than a year already too!)... and there was a massive jam at the toll, but only for the cars. the buses go in a separate lane, no jams at all, and then we had to get down twice for customs check, but since we travelled light, it wasnt really a hassle.
the minute we got off the bus in singapore, we just started walking everywhere. we couldnt get a cab, so we looked at the map and decided that maybe the hotel is at a walkable distance.
and it was! and since then, we just spent our days (and nights!) in singapore walking.
the hotel we stayed at-broadway hotel-in little india, was cheap, at sgd280 for 3 nights, had a clean bathroom, and is close to almost everything. halal indian food, mrt, 24-hr shopping place (mustafa center), etc.
we'd take the mrt, which was also really convenient, and then just mostly walked and walked and walked everywhere... little india, kampung glam, arab street, marina bay, orchard street.

it reminded me of the days in canada. why am i not walking as much here in melaka/kl/malaysia?
hmm..

there was a lot of shopping malls there, i mean, for a small country like singapore, the shopping malls i thought were just, well, relatively huge!
i didnt have a lot of cash on me (or in the bank for that matter) so actual shopping was down to a minimum. one interesting find was that some of the crocs shoes cost cheaper than here in malaysia, even after conversion. brought a pair of alices for mawar (as requested).

went to sentosa for half a day. biasa je i thought. but i loved the luge ride-real fun- and we enjoyed the show "songs of the sea".
plus there was the "fun" experience of actually having to run back and forth, thanks to my forgetful friend (ehem-lote!) who kept leaving her things behind.

last, but definitely not least, was the interesting experience of meeting lote's old friend-a friendly singaporean chap who navigates ships into singapore for a living, with a "colorful" past he doesnt mind sharing, loyal follower of malaysian politics (and malay tv dramas-ehem), and extremely proud father of his 3 kids.
i also realize that it's been awhile since i last made a NEW friend, especially someone outside the "medical society", that i felt like i just got out of my tempurung ;)

ahh..all in all it was a real good fun HEALTHY trip ;)...
here's to more travels this year, and to great friends, old and new.