CERTAIN amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and Penal Code (PC) have yet to be enforced although they were gazetted last year as they are still being studied by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz said although the amendments were supposed to be enforced on Jan 1, the A-G’s Chambers had found some other adjustments that needed to be made.
Amendments to the Codes approved by the Dewan included empowering the police to intercept communication if they suspected an act of terrorism had been or was in the process of being committed, making it an offence for a man to force his wife to have sex and imposing community service sentences for young offenders instead of jail terms.
Other amendments paved the way for the videotaping of a child’s evidence in court to be used as part of the testimony and to disallow suspects’ cautioned statements from being used in court.
He said there were also four other Bills that had to be enforced simultaneously as they were inter-related – the Anti Money Laundering (Amendment) Act 2003, Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2003, Lower Courts (Amendment) Act 2004 and the Court of Judicature Act. Some of the amendments addressed terrorism financing.
“The enforcement of these amendments have to be delayed too as they have to be enforced simultaneously with amendments to the CPC and PC,” he said in a written reply to Teresa Kok (DAP – Seputeh).
Nazri said due to the postponement, Malaysia had failed to meet the recommendation of Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering on terrorism financing.
He said Malaysia was given until March 9 to enforce all provisions in the laws that were related to terrorism financing.
“The AG chambers had identified the stipulations concerned in all the amended Acts so that they would be enforced first,” he said.
Earlier, Nazri said the Government had no plans to set up a commission to appoint judges as the existing system was reliable and effective.
He said the appointment of judges was based on the United Nations’ Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, which has been in use for the past 50 years.
The increasing number of cases filed in the courts showed there was no lack of confidence in the system, which had been effective and appropriate, he told M. Kulasegaran (DAP – Ipoh Barat).
“However, as minister, I have no problem on suggestions of changes, as long as there is separation of powers between the Judiciary, Legislative and Executive.
“If the Judiciary agrees to have a judicial commission, we have no problem in implementing this,” he added. –mStar