JULY 9 — The Fourth of July holds a very significant place in my heart.

No, it’s not because I have American blood coursing through my veins or that I suddenly want to celebrate another country’s independence day on the other side of the world.

No, no, this is the very date our former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was brought to court to face charges over SRC International Sdn Bhd.

In case you’re wondering or have forgotten, SRC is the former subsidiary of his brainchild 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

After years of talk about dodgy dealings in 1MDB, it was finally time to pull back the curtains.

I vividly remember it was on July 4, 2018 that my colleagues and I were assigned to cover the story of the decade as then Attorney General Tommy Thomas puts it in his opening statement and I quote, "The first trial in our courts against a former prime minister, who for nearly a decade, occupied the most powerful office in the land and wielded near absolute power.”

With such strong words, our eagerness naturally was off the charts.

Come to think of it, the whole thing — as it played out over the years — felt like a magazine subscription I had willingly signed up for but with no clear expiration date and subject to auto-renewal annually.

The title of the magazine here being "Najib’s SRC International Shenanigans.”

Suffice to say, I was at once fascinated or utterly baffled throughout the subscription period aka the trial.

Notable one-liners such as "I don’t know”, "I am not aware”, "I was not told” were some of the frequent responses from Najib.

The one that got the biggest laugh out of me (and other reporters) was his testimony that he had issued cheques from his personal bank accounts based on his "sense” that he had sufficient funds to cover his spending.

Truly, one of the revelations of all time.

Six years later, just thinking about that quote elicits a chuckle still.

Oh, how about this one time the court was told Najib had wanted his deputy to come up with a "proper plan” to repatriate funds belonging to SRC International but chose to keep silent over his intention.

There he is again with that display of psychic prowess.

But for all of that, there was no outsmarting justice who comes for all impartially.

And so it all came to an end in 2022 when Najib failed his final appeal and my subscription finally came to an end.

Yet on every Fourth of July, there are neither displays of fireworks or parades to mark this day in Malaysia. To remind us of the day a former prime minister was charged in court.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.