KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Putrajaya today sought to list stalking as a crime under the new amendment to Section 507(A) of the Penal Code.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin tabled the Bill for its first reading today.
"Whoever repeatedly by any act of harassment, intending to cause, or knowing or ought to know that the act is likely to cause distress, fear or alarm to any person of the person’s safety, commits an offence of stalking,” read the Bill made available at the Dewan Rakyat here.
Punishment for the offence of stalking shall be imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or a fine or both.
In a related amendment, the Court is also empowered to issue protection in case of stalking under the amended Criminal Procedure Code which was also tabled by Mas Ermieyati today.
The new Section 98A under the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2022 allows victims, their lawyers or guardian of a child or incapacitated adult to apply for the court's protection ex parte.
Malaysia does not have specific anti-stalking laws yet.
According to the United Nations, out of the 36 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, fewer than half have stalking laws. Those that do include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore,.
In 2019, the government formed an anti-stalking committee to look at amendments to the law to make stalking a crime in Malaysia.
