Govt mulls law to deal with contempt of court

THE government is looking into the possibility of enacting a law to deal with cases related to contempt of court, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.

He said there is no specific legislation now to address such cases.

“The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) has been conducting a study by comparing relevant laws in several countries such as Singapore, India and the

United Kingdom. At the same time, it is getting feedback from stakeholders,” he told Datuk Liew Vui Keong (Warisan–Batu Sapi) during question time.

“The AGC has been looking into this since 2010, and a draft of the bill was completed in 2013 and referred to the judiciary.

“It was submitted to the AGC’s drafting division in 2016. The Home Ministry had made amendments to the Sedition Act a year prior to that.

“The amendment involves contempt of court.”

Takiyuddin said criticisms against the judiciary seemed to be a new norm, highlighting the fact that even ministers had taken to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction with the recent guilty verdict of an MP, referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB conviction.

Takiyuddin said he was subject to the law and ready to be called in by police, referring to a photo of him with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and other party leaders, taken while visiting Najib at his home.

He pointed out that Abdul Hadi had also visited PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim following the latter’s conviction.

Takiyuddin said although there is no law to deal with contempt of court cases, common law principles are applicable in regard to contempt, and provided for in Section 3 of the Civil Law Act 1956.