The Malaysian Bar is concerned with the problem of juveniles being held in remand at the Sg. Buloh prison.
Even more serious concern is the practise of holding juveniles in police lockups pending investigations.
The Malaysian Bar through the Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre (LAC) had initiated the Sg. Buloh Prison Project sometime in 1997 to provide legal asistance and representation for remand persons held there. Sometime in early 1999, the Sg. Buloh prison authorities alerted the LAC to the problems relating to juveniles held in remand at the prison. The LAC proceeded immediately to liase with the relevant authorities including the courts to clear the backlog of cases and expedite hearings and dispose of these cases.
The LAC conducted interviews with the juveniles involved and in many cases managed to contact family members and in such cases assisted in making application for bail to be posted.
Subsequently sometime in June 2000, the LAC was again notified by the prison authorities of the increasing number of juveniles being held in remand at Sg. Buloh.
The Centre with the cooperation of the courts are again proceeding to clear this backlog.
The Malaysian Bar is concerned that although such ad hoc measures are effective, it would not resolve the problem and the solution we should work towards is to ensure that juveniles are not subjected to remand in prison or police lockups. No matter how serious the offence is, the overriding consideration should always be the welfare of the juvenile and in no circumstances should the juvenile be subjected to conditions which would surely have adverse effects in the long term.
The move to come up with long term measures require a comprehensive study of the juvenile problems within the crime justice system requiring the initiative and cooperation of all parties involved including the Social Welfare department and the division in the Prime Minister’s department dealing with legal affairs.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers should also be involved and guidelines issued, if any, in respect of prosecution involving juveniles should be reviewed or implemented.
The Malaysian Bar acting through the Kuala Lumpur LAC has set up a Juvenile Task Force to look into the various related problems of juveniles in remand and in due course shall propose amendments to relevant statutes and propose review of prosecution procedure, and bail application principles involving juveniles.
The Task Force intends to forward the recommendations and proposals to the government in due course.
The Malaysian Bar is wholly supportive of Dato’ Rais Yatim’s concern and interest in this matter and we shall at all times fully cooperate with and support the courts and Attorney General’s Chambers in their efforts to resolve this problem.
Hj. Sulaiman Abdullah President Bantuan peguam Malaysia
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