Who knew that the
Bersih Operation actually took place on the 27th of April 2012 instead of
on the 28th.Below is how the story unfolds.
The line-ups for the
Asian Law Students Association (ALSA) Moots 2012 are :
Addibah Adnan
(Dibsy) acting as the 1st Appellant
Atif Abdullah (Tiffy) the 2nd
Appellant,
Azalea Azarae (Wombat)
as the 1st Respondent and finally,
Azim Razak
(Terminator) as the 2nd Respondent.
26th
April 2012
It was the last
day of training for the ALSA mooters. Only then did reality dawned upon the ALSA
mooters that heck, the competition is tomorrow! Pressure struck, but it was
immediately mellowed down when Alia and Danial came with IKEA curry puffs, so
heavenly that even Fikie Moe brushed his
regimented diet aside to enjoy a few mouthfuls. Truth be told, I was confused
whether this was a training session, or a party. There was Keropok Lekor,
Pisang Goreng and Cekodok on the table instead of scripts and cases! But, it is
moot, and for UiTM mooters, food runs parallel with moots. The day ended around 9 pm
where it was agreed that the mooters will meet up at the faculty around 6.30 am
the next morning.
27th
April 2012
I (Wombat) was the first to
reach the faculty at 6.30 am alongside Adila and ‘The Damanhoori’. Soon after
Zufar arrived with Atif and Azim. I gave Fikie Moe a call only to find out that
he just woke up! The congregation left exactly at 7.30 am for Universiti Malaya
(UM). We reached UM and straight away headed to the foyer to have breakfast
where we were joined by a large group of supporters, namely, Wombat’s whole
family! There we were informed that HELP University have forfeited therefore
the rounds have to be restructured. The first round was at 10.30 am between Universiti
Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM) Respondent team and Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin’s
(UniSZA) Appellant team. It was an active session whereby her Ladyship was very
much ‘pleased’ and complimented our ability to address her concerns quickly and
creatively. We were quick on our feet in addressing her questions and mooted with
such confidence resulting in her Ladyship to be belief that they we were not
first year students! As for the Appellants, their first round started at 2.30
pm.
The afternoon
match was between the UiTM Appellant Team and the UniSZA Respondent Team, and
the UM Appellant Team and the UiTM Respondent Team. Addibah and Atif submitted with
poise in front of the presiding judge all the time maintaining eye contact and
putting up a strong fight to the equally good mooters at the opposite end of
the court. Addibah’s ability to conjure up answers in the blink of an eye has
to be noted as it really impressed the bench. The Respondent’s second round
against the UM team begun around the same time at Dewan Kuliah C. It was a
successful round for us as his Lordship dismissed the Appellants claim and in
his comment praised yet again the Respondent’s ability to address his questions
efficiently. Thus, that concludes our preliminary rounds. As for the Appellants,
their second round was immediately after their first round. Again the
combination of Addibah and Atif proved to be a lethal one as they mooted before
the bench with such composure thus convinced the bench to believe and side with
their cause. After 4 hours of back to back mooting, they finally got a break
and the team returned to the foyer to catch a breath before the result of the
breaking teams were released. In less than half an hour, all of the participating
teams were gathered in the Tun Suffian Auditorium for the announcement of the
teams that made it to finals. The long-time dream of the Moot Team finally materialised
when the results were announced, it was to be an all UiTM finals! This marks the
first step of the Bersih Operation by the UiTM team. Before the final round
began, dinner was served. It was chicken chop with chips and mashed potatoes,
really good dinner, and it was made even better with the company of newfound
friends from UniSZA and UM. Sharp 8.00 pm the Final Round began. The Appellants
were Addibah and Atif whilst the Respondents were Azalea and Azim. Eventhough
it was an all UiTM finals, neither team took the round lightly, and on the
contrary, both team mooted excellently, giving their very best, putting a show
before His Lordship and Her Ladyship and those present that day. The same
appraisal was delivered by the bench, that both teams were able to respond to
the bench’s question blow by blow. It was not long before the result of the
first ALSA competition was released. The bench dismissed the appeal, and the
win went to the Respondents, though in truth, both teams were winners, as such
success is impossible to achieve without the help and support of each and every
one. Now, the reason why the 27th of April is the Bersih Operation
Day for the ALSA team is because, the team won every single prize offered.
Best Oralist.
Check. – Azim Razak.
Best Memorial.
Check. – UiTM Respondent Team.
Best Team. Check –
UiTM Respondent Team.
The UiTM ALSA team
swept clean all of the prizes offered, hence, Operasi Bersih 1.0. It is
impossible for the team to achieve success of this magnitude without the help
of many people. The Moot Problem was a jumble of Land law, Constitutional Law, and
Administrative Law. It is safe to say that except for Constitutional Law, Atif,
Azim and myself had a whirlwind lecture on all of the other areas of law. Our
utmost gratitude to Madam Normawati for teaching us and guiding us on how to
tackle such issues. The numerous Skype sessions we had shows how high your
level of dedication is to your students and your faculty, and to that, we will
be eternally grateful. Dr. Irwin. A man so selfless that he’ll succumb to
performing his husbandly, yes, husbandly duties in advance just so that he’ll
have time to spend time with us for training, thank you. To the Mrs too this
time, for allowing us to ship Sir away during the holidays. Miss Ummi Hani, who
sacrificed her movie time, to hear us submit, over and over again, and over and
over. It’s mind-boggling really, and for that, Miss Ummi, thank you, for
perfecting our submission. Student-trainers, Fikie Moe and Zharif! The two
amazing-est, funniest, smartest and yes, hottest coaches, THANK YOU! You,
dearest trainer, give yourself too little credit when you actually are one of
the key to our success. Zharif, you’ve guided us much along the way, and spent
time to further better ourselves in moot and for that, thank you. Farhan,
Ellena, Marly, and Hannah, thank you for supporting us throughout the
competition.
Last but not
least, this is just the beginning, the first step of many. My sincerest hope is
that we will be able to repeat this success.
Echoing the words
of Douglas McArthur –
“Build me a
son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave
enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending
in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.”
And with that, I sign off as Captain for the 2012 ALSA Team.
-Wombat
