The Curse of ANWAR'S sodomy trial UMNO will vanish from the face of this earth

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar IbrahimWednesday failed in his third attempt to recuse his sodomy trial judge.

Court of Appeal judge Justice Hasan Lah, who chaired a three-man panel, held that it was not appealable.

The court allowed a preliminary objection by the deputy public prosecutor and dismissed the appeal.

Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Nordin Hassan raised a preliminary objection that the court should dismiss the recusal application by Anwar on issue of jurisdiction.

Nordin said the High Court's ruling to refuse Anwar's recusal application was not appealable as it was not the final outcome of the trial which disposed off his rights.

The Court of Appeal also dismissed an application by Anwar to stay his sodomy case.

One month is the ideal duration for judges to write and deliver their judgments, said former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid.

He said judges should gather and write down the points immediately, upon completion of hearing their cases. A delay, he said, would cause the mind to be disorganised since they would have other cases to manage.

"Very much better, you finish your case, you gather the points together and draw up...and from there, you already have an idea and know the main crux and what to concentrate (on)," he said.

He said judges should take two weeks to write the draft, and another week or two, to rethink what they had written before making some adjustments to their judgment.

Syed Ahmad said judgments must be clear, adding that the importance of writing a judgment was for people who were affected by the judgment.

Syed Ahmad, who is also Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration director, was speaking at a media conference after the launch of his book, 'Writing of Judgments: A Practical Guide for Courts and Tribunals'.

The book was launched by Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi at the Conference Hall in the Palace of Justice here.

In his speech, Zaki reminded judges that their judgments should be written in a concise, clear and succinct manner to make it easy for parties in a court case to understand the judge's grounds of judgment, as well as for the appellate court to understand the rationale of their decision.

Meanwhile, Syed Ahmad said the book was intended to give judges, particularly the younger ones, guidance and equip them with knowledge and ability to write judgments.

On some judges who delayed writing judgments by between two and eight years, Syed Ahmad said the chief justice was concerned over the matter.

NAJIB “CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ADULTERY” WITH ZAINA ZAIN IN PORT DICKSON,FORBIDDEN PLEASURES! BERSIH RALLY (RAHSIA) THE FATHER OF ALTANTUYA’S SON

THE FORBIDDEN AND THE UNUSUAL CAN SEEM IRRESISTIBLE AT TIMES. BUT CONSIDER THE REPERCUSSIONS BEFORE YOU GET TEMPTED! How long more are the UMNO “”dogs””(as referred by Jalil Hamid himself ) going to let themselves whore for handouts time to time. Egypt’s former Security Min Habib el-Adly should be able to instill some wise … Read more

"He's like the kid at the playground, who decides to take the ball, call it his, and go home when things aren't going his way. If he can't win, no one can play."

When thinking about the most recent case of mass rape in eastern Congo -- carried out yet again by an aggrieved former rebel commander hiding behind the Congolese military and leading a patchwork of troops composed of former rebel groups -- I can't get the analogy out of my head. However, instead of a self-entitled commander taking his ball and going home, he takes his men and rapes over 170 women.

Conflict has ravaged eastern Congo for nearly 15 years, resulting in nearly 6 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of cases of rape, and it has long been reported that militia units within the Congolese Army, or FARDC, are some of the worst perpetrators of the violence. A series of "peace deals" between the Congolese government and various armed groups have placed well-known perpetrators of crimes against humanity in official positions of power. Within the Congolese Army, accountability is rare, impunity reigns, and these "peace deals" are tenuous at best, if not at times a mechanism for armed groups to get ahead. When the deals break down, or when a soldier wants something a certain way, it is civilians that are caught in the cross-fire.

2010 was one of the worst years for sexual violence in the Congo. In August of that year, the mass rape of over 300 women near Walikale by rebel groups in North Kivu Province was a watershed incident that highlighted the deficiencies of state and military protection, international peacekeeping efforts, and the lack of resolve throughout the international community to end the scourge of rape as weapon in Congo. On New Year's Day, 2011, another mass rape occurred, this time in the town of Fizi, in the south Kivu Province. A bar fight between members of a local community and a rouge Congolese military officer ended with the officer's troops pillaging multiple villages and raping over 50 women. The military commander in charge of the offending officer and troops was Colonel Kifaru Niragire, a Hutu from North Kivu province and a former commander of the rebel group PARECO, which has traditional ties to the FDLR. The incident seemed to indicate that there was no progress in addressing the issue; and that those communities affected by the ongoing conflict--fueled by ethnic ego and competition for strategic mineral reserves--were destined to forever bear the brunt of the violence.

However, after the New Years Day attack, efforts to address the use of rape as a weapon in eastern Congo began to gain traction and show signs of progress.

For the first time, arrests were made of commanders responsible for ordering or leading those that carried out the rapes in the Walikale and Fizi cases. The Congolese military with support from the international community held mobile court hearings, and prosecuted a handful of the perpetrators of these crimes -- sending strong signals that the era of impunity is coming to an end. In the Fizi case, nine soldiers, including Col Kifaru's deputy, Lt Col Kibibi Mutware, were later prosecuted and found guilty of crimes against humanity and jailed for up to 20 years. This case was seen as a landmark victory in the effort to end the environment of impunity.

Fast forward six months. Just last week it was reported that in mid-June 170 women were raped, again near Fizi by a group of defecting Congolese Army troops who had once been rebels in the area, led by no other than Col. Kifaru. During the attacks the armed assailants also stole livestock, burned homes, and looted health clinics in the area. So why did this happen again?

Recently the government of Congo and the FARDC has been engaged in a security sector reform initiative focused around the regimentation of existing military units. Through this process they are attempting to gather the various existing FARDC units in the often lawless eastern Congo, and consolidate them into central locations in an attempt rightsize the military structure of the region. In addition the FARDC has been negotiating with various rebel groups on"peace deals" to become regular national soldiers and in some cases have been successful. Up until two weeks ago this was the case with Col. Kifaru. Having been absorbed into the FARDC, he was involved in the regimentation process, until the Commander of the 10th Military Unit, General Patrick Masunzu, passed him over for a promotion that went to an individual of the same ethnic group as Gen. Masunzu. Infuriated by the perceived slight, Col. Kifaru orchestrated an armed standoff at a military base in South Kivu, and ultimately defected with roughly 200 loyal troops in tow. Just over a week later he led his troops through Fizi and while replenishing their supplies by pillaging nearby villages, raped 170 women.

What can be done?

The momentum built through the Walikale and Fizi trials must be perpetuated, and the era of impunity for armed actors must come to an end. In order to maintain momentum and credibility:

The Congolese government, military and the international community must take immediate action to ensure that those responsible for these rapes are caught, tried, and prosecuted.
Sentences in those trials must be enforced.
Those civilians that testify must be protected.
The FARDC must not accept Col. Kifaru or any of his men back into the regimentation process.

By arresting and prosecuting the worst offenders, the Congolese and their international partners can begin to create an environment that is conducive to peace-building, civilian protection, and economic development. If commanders like Col. Kifaru are allowed to throw temper tantrums that destroy the bodies, lives, and communities of our Congolese brothers and sisters without consequence then we are all to blame.

On Irish radio you hear adverts from time to time inviting men who feel listless, low and lacking in drive to go to their doctor to be investigated and treated for low testosterone levels. These rather dubious pharma industry-sponsored adverts do point to male hormonal issues that tend to be neglected in contrast to their female equivalents.

But one treatment for low testosterone in males may be a non-obvious one -- POWER. I was struck last night watching Sepp Blatter 75, head of FIFA, the international football body, meeting with Robert Mugabe 87, president of Zimbabwe. I don't know about their sex lives, but certainly these two elderly men didn't look like they would be tripping off to their doctors to have their testosterone levels measured because of listlessness and lack of drive. And then of course there is Silvio Berlusconi, 74, whose appetite for sex and power seem limitless and who most certainly would not be seeking medical help for low testosterone levels.

And then there is DSK, 62. Shortly before the events in the New York Sofitel, he was rated by Forbes magazine to be the 37th most powerful person in the world, and whatever the truth of the allegations against him, at the very least consensual casual sex took place more or less on the way to the airport. Here is another older man in whom the appetites for power and sex are in vigorous form.

So what's going on here? Is it just a coincidence that at ages when many men are contemplating slippers and gentle walks, these international figures are living the lives of testosterone-fueled twenty-somethings? What comes first, the drive or the power? The research suggests a bit of both. Oliver Schultheiss and his colleagues of the University of Erlangen in Germany found that both men and women who have a high unconscious need or drive for power over others have sex significantly more often than people who are not motivated by power. Tony Blair has a high need for power, and he was also distinguished by being nominated last year for a bad sex writing award in his autobiography, A Journey.

But the link between power and sex is not a one-way street -- even transient power -- for instance winning a game against another person -- boosts testosterone levels. What's more, there are certain attitudes towards women which, if a man shows them, make them more likely to engage in sexual harassment. When men with such attitudes have thoughts of power unconsciously primed in their brains, they show increases in sexual desire, even though there was nothing specifically sexual in the unconscious power primes. Such primes do not trigger sexual desire in men who do not have such harassment-inclining attitudes to womenⁱ.

So when it comes to these older men and their unusual drive, they bring a testosterone-fueling need for power to the table in their rise to power, but once they have it, that keeps the testosterone flowing. And when that happens, their brains operate in a different way, spewing out cognition-enhancing dopamine and leaving them hungry for more -- of everything in life. So, older lads and ladettes, if you want to get a bit of zest in your lives -- try a bit of power.