Malaysia

Provides a listing of articles on restorative justice developments in Malaysia. Articles appear in the order in which they were added to the site with the most recent appearing first.

Hadi Zakaria, Abdul. Victim Support Systems in Malaysia

This chapter reviews provisions for victim support in Malaysia under four statutes: the Criminal Procedure Code, the Women and Girls Protection Act 1973, the Child Protection Act 1991, and the Domestic Violence Act 1996. Collectively, these statutes provide for both financial compensation and physical protection for victims. The Criminal Procedure Code provides for the payment of financial compensation to a crime victim. This is in the form of restitution from the offender; the amount payable cannot exceed 50 Malaysian ringgit. Most of the victim-related legislation in Malaysia, however, focuses on the physical protection of victims. The most prominent of these statutes are the Women and Girls Protection Act 1973 (WGPA), the Child Protection Act 1991 (CPA), and the Domestic Violence Act 1994 (DVA). The WPGA seeks to protect all females from undesirable actions or circumstances that threaten their well-being. These include their own deviant behavior; auto-victimization; neglect; ill-treatment; unsatisfactory home conditions; the threat of injury, harm, or abuse of their persons by others; unwelcome sexual approaches; and protection against infections. The CPA aims to protect children from all forms of abuse, including physical, sexual, mental, or psychological abuse. The DVA seeks to protect women from acts of violence by spouses or former spouses, parents or guardians, or any family member. A number of institutions have been established in Malaysia for the purpose of providing shelter for victims of physical abuse. To date, the government has established five residential institutions to provide shelter to females who are deemed in need of protection. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Hughie TAN Yeak Hui. ADR in the Malaysian courts: a short synopsis

According to Hughie TAN Yeak Hui, the court system in Malaysia is overloaded with a backlog of cases. There is considerable dissatisfaction among the public with the court system. Hughie TAN Yeak Hui surveys the situation in Malaysia both in terms of the judicial system and the legislative framework. In short, options for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) are few and limited. For example, there are reconciliation tribunals to address matrimonial disputes. Yet mediation and conciliation as generally accepted and implemented processes for resolving legal disputes are in their early stages in Malaysia.

Krishnan, Loganathan. Is Restorative Justice Able To Deal With Land Grievances Of Indigenous Peoples? A Case Of Malaysia

The World Wide Fund for Nature described indigenous people as the earth's most focal stewards. There are 300 million indigenous people in the world and approximately 100,000 in Malaysia. The term 'Indigenous people' is contentious and guaranteeing their rights is a thorny issue. They live a distinctive lifestyle, a tradition, which involves a vivid history. In today's epoch, they live with a certain amount of expectation from the government of the day. Expectation is deeply embedded in their blood in relation to their rights to land matters. They have a special relationship with their land, imbued with spirituality and sacredness. It forms a footing for social, economic, cultural structure and system. They often perceive it as something irretrievably transmitted to them through birthright. But, the ultra modern humanity has been a major threat to their rights. When land is appropriated it affects their traditional subsistence, land management and medicinal practices. In some instances they were encouraged to dump their nomadic life and progress to modern life. In Malaysia, the governing legislation is the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954. Its provisions, applicability, effect and operation would be analysed together with the current restorative justice measures as to whether the existing framework are a panacea for land grievances of the indigenous people. An analysis would be made as to type of restorative justice models that may be adopted to deal with their grievances. A study is also carried out as to the viability of international restorative justice measures or system to deal with their grievances. Nevertheless, the perplexing issue is, should restorative justice measures be looked from the eye of the indigenous people or the spectacle of the government. There must be a plea for radical changes in laws and policies protecting aboriginal people. Abstract courtesy of the Centre for Justice and Peace Development, Massey University, http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz.

Yaacob, Hakimah. Restorative justice and Prison Industry: Proposed Waqf-Based Model for creation of victim’s fund

The Government spends more than RM30 per day for every prisoner and as to date, we have 40,000 prisoners around Malaysia. Even though the cost incurred is extremely high (RM511,100,000 annually), the crime rate continues to rise. The problem with the system nowadays is too much focus is rendered upon the offences committed by the concerned individuals and the rehabilitation of their behavior, rather than restoring the position of the crime victims back to their status quo, which would also be a move that is prudent and in line with universal humanistic objectives. The lack of self consciousness and accountability towards the crime, which is structured by the prison system itself means that at the moment, the system is not the best option with regard to preserving social justice. A theory that is founded upon responsibility and accountability has the potential to be an effective mechanism of to reduce the national crime rate. As a result, the Government’s expenditure and the cost of crime can be reduced. (author's abstract)