New Child Act to be tabled latest in June: Rohani

She said the draft of the new Act which placed greater emphasis on the negligence of parents in caring for their children was currently being finalised by the Attorney-General's Chambers after the ministry made some amendments.

"We had last year sent a draft amendment of the Child Act 2001 to the Attorney-General but it was returned for fine-tuning and now it has been handed over again to be studied in terms of legality, words and terms used.

"We expect to table it in June or much earlier, in view of the fact that the old Act has been overtaken by time.

"As the amendments made (to the existing Act) involve more than 70 percent, we believe the Attorney-General would agree to it as a new Act and possibly to be known as the Child Act 2015," she said at a press conference after attending a 'Casual Coffee O' session with Perwani FB friends at Shah Alam Gallery Saturday.

Rohani said the new Act would come with improvements in several aspects, among them the prison term and fines to commensurate with the offences involving abuse and neglect of children.

"Currently, the sentences imposed are not proportionate, so we want more deterrent sentences and at the same time we have proposed that parents who have been convicted undergo community service so that they would be more remorseful."

Currently, the penalty for child abuse is a fine of up to RM20,000 or a jail term of up to 10 years and for child neglect, it is a fine of up RM5,000 or jail term not exceeding two years, upon conviction.

"In addition, improvements in the new Act need to be in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), especially that which involves whipping.

"We have signed the convention, so we have to adhere to it as we will be monitored," said Rohani.