Strong signal that spirit of the law must resonate with letter of the law

THE uproar over the sentences meted out to former national youth squad bowler Noor Afizal Azizan and electrician Chuah Guan Jiu back in August was understandable.

The court of public opinion was in one accord that binding over the accused for committing statutory rape, though allowed under the law, was simply not acceptable.

The victims in these two separate cases were aged 13 and 12 at the time of the offences, and whether the acts were consensual or not was not the issue.

Calls for the law to be changed to make it mandatory for custodial sentences on such cases rang loud and clear.

However, it is to the credit of the judiciary that they did not engage in any public debate over the matter. We must be mindful that their priority is to uphold the judicial oath and to put matters of public opinion to one side when deciding the cases before them.

That is the task for our lawmakers to hear what the people say and decide accordingly if legislation needs to be refined to meet changing circumstances.

Be that as it may, it would be naïve to say that judges should have no regard for public opinion with respect to sentencing, insofar as what the law allows.

Thus when Chuah’s case came up for appeal last week, the High Court in Penang did not hesitate to set aside the RM25,000 good behaviour bond for three years imposed by the Sessions court in August. The court also did not allow the application for a stay of execution pending further appeal. The judge ordered Chuah to begin his five-and-a-half years sentence immediately.

High Court judge Datuk Seri Zakaria Sam, in his judgment, stressed that consent is irrelevant in statutory rape.

“An adult like you having sex with a 12year-old is a manipulator. She trusted you but you took advantage of her. Instead of sending her to school you took her home and had sex,” said Zakaria.

“Even if she had submitted, you knew she was underaged and had the choice to reject her. Young girls need to be protected from manipulators like you.”

Strong words indeed. And a strong signal too to fellow judges that the spirit of the law must resonate with the letter of the law.

We must uphold unequivocally our intolerance of men having sex with underaged girls.