Special law to deal with contempt of court cases being studied - Takiyuddin

The government is studying the need to formulate a special law to deal with the rising number of contempt of court cases in the country, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) is studying the matter by making a comparison of the laws used in several countries such as India, the United Kingdom and Singapore.

"The government will also gather inputs from all stakeholders involved," he said during the Minister's Question Time.

He said this in reply to Datuk Liew Vui Keong (Warisan-Batu Sapi) who wanted to know whether the government intends to introduce a special law to deal with the rising number of contempt of court cases, especially on social media, more effectively.

Elaborating, Takiyuddin said the AGC has been looking into the matter since 2010 and the draft of the special law had been completed in 2013 and had also been referred to the court.

Takiyuddin said, by 2016, the draft was at the verification phase at the AGC Drafting Division.

"However, a year before that, the Home Ministry had made some amendments to the Sedition Act which also involved provisions concerning contempt of court...so, the matter was revised by the government to make it compatible with the amendments made," he said.

The minister explained that, currently, the court uses the principle of common law, Civil Law Act 1956, and several other provisions, such as Article 126 of the Federal Constitution to deal with contempt of court cases.

-- BERNAMA