Law Reform Bill, Prevention of Crime Act passed

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday night passed the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) (Amendment) Bill 2017 aimed to amend the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 or (Act 164).

The decision was announced by Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee at about 12.40 am after the third reading of the bill was made by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and seconded by Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Hamim Samuri.

Earlier the bill was tabled by Azalina for the second reading and debated by the Members of Parliament for over three hours and the winding up by Azalina for an hour.

In winding up the debate, Azalina said the amendment aimed to provide room for couples who married and had converted to Islam or one of them who is still a Muslim to file a petition for the dissolution of the marriage in the civil court.

She said it was to avoid action by either the husband or wife who did not want to terminate the marriage but did not execute any responsibility towards the spouse, their children or properties.

“It means that he has a choice, a person who converts to Islam is bound by the Islamic family law, that is his right but it is a question of the family he left behind.

“I am not married yet and I am also angry, for running away, not wanting to pay maintenance, using Islam when Islam is a responsible religion,” she said.

Azalina said the amendment did not deny the rights of a person in the Syariah Court, instead it encourages a person to be more responsible in divorcing the spouse in the Civil Court.

Prior to this, Azalina in a statement, said the amendment was also made to ensure no party challenge the legality of the law under Clause (1) Article 4 of the Federal Constitution.

“The government is serious in making an amendment to this law to maintain the harmony of the diverse races and religions in the country besides ensuring that claims such as custody and maintenance of the children up to the highest level of education are sustained and guaranteed.

The Dewan Rakyat also passed the Prevention of Crime Act (Amendment) 2017 early yesterday morning.

The bill was passed at 4.05 am by voice votes after the third reading was made by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and seconded by Deputy Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Govermnent Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique.

Earlier when winding up the debate on the bill, Nur Jazlan said the amendment on the bill was aimed at expediting the decision-making process by the Crime Prevention Board in any case besides facilitating the management of the board’s duties.

He said with the amendment, the board was empowered to urge officers investigating a case to speed up the preparation of the report for further action.

“At present the existing law gives the investigating officer a maximum of 38 days to prepare the report, but with this amendment, the board can urge the officer to expedite the preparation of the report,” he said.

When tabling the bill, Nur Jazlan said it had 16 clauses which contained several proposals, among others, for action which resulted in the the destruction and loss of electronic monitoring device (EMD) be made an offence.

He said the bill also proposed that destructive action and loss of other devices used in the handling of the EMD be also made an offence.

“The amendment is also intended to give power to the court to impose jail sentence on a person who failed to pay damages or loss of EMD and other devices related to it.

“The amendment also proposed that members of the Board of Crime Prevention can be re-appointed for any period,” he said.- Bernama