‘Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will give fair treatment to all’
MIRI: The Department of Insolvency hopes that the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will not only give fair treatment to all involved including creditors, debtors as well as bankrupt principal borrowers and guarantors, but also the department, once it is enforced.
Its head here, Noor Nasimah Bujang, said the department had over the years been unfairly criticised and misunderstood as not only inhumane for implementing the law but also accused of declaring the person bankrupt.
“The Insolvency Department doesn’t declare anyone bankrupt. Bankruptcy is a process whereby a debtor is declared a bankrupt pursuant to an Adjudication Order made by the High Court against the debtor if he or she is unable to pay his debts of at least RM30,000.
“The department’s role is to administer bankruptcy cases. It also helps bankrupts to be discharged from bankruptcy,” she said during the briefing on the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Bill 2016 here yesterday.
About 100 representatives from various government departments and agencies, financial institutions and nongovernmental organisations from here, Bintulu and Limbang divisions, attended the half- day briefing and dialogue session.
Assisting Noor Nasimah were senior Insolvency officer II Rosemawati Mohd Salleh and Insolvency officer Norhadizah Hassan.
The briefing was part of the nation-wide roadshow this month, touching on the eight main eight policy changes introduced by the new law.
Among them were the prevention of taking bankruptcy actions against ‘social guarantors’ and raising the minimum threshold for bankruptcy from the present RM30,000 to RM50,000.
“We hope the revamped law will reduce substantially the number of people declared bankrupt as the minimum threshold had been increased four times from RM1,000 in 1967 to RM50,000 in 2016. It is higher compared to many developed nations like Singapore ( RM46,472.71), United Kingdom ( RM27,255.78) but slightly lower than United States ( RM69,646.63) but far lower than Thailand ( RM124,366.20),” she said.
She said for more details on the new law and how the public can benefit from it, Sarawakians can contact or come to their nearest offices in Kuching, Sibu and Miri. The ministry’s record shows that Miri office ( from 2012 to December 2016) has 1,557 bankruptcy cases, with Selangor topping the list with 28,344 cases while Kuching has 3,200 cases, and Sibu 982 cases.