• Home
  • News
    • Press Statements
    • Speeches
    • Bar News
    • AGMs and EGMs
    • In Memoriam
    • Legal and General News
    • Court Judgments
  • Members
    • Circulars
    • Sijil Annual and Payments
    • Benefits
    • Peer Support Network
    • Practice Management
    • Professional Development
    • Opportunities for Practice
    • Mentor-Mentee Programmes
    • Laws, BC Rulings and Practice Directions
    • Resources
    • Become a Member
  • Find
    • Legal Directories
    • BC Legal Aid Centres
    • State Bar Committees
    • Law Firms | Areas of Practice
    • Jobs
    • Useful forms
  • About Us
    • Malaysian Bar and Bar Council
    • President's Corner
    • Committees
    • Previous Committees
    • Contacts
    • Advertising
  • Public
    • Complaints
    • Legal Aid
    • Notices
    • Compensation Fund
  • Search
  • Login
Search for

New login method: If first-time login, the password is your NRIC No. Call 20502191 for help.

 
Lost your password? Remember Me

 
No User ID/Password for firm? Click here for more information. Forgot Firm Username/Password?

Set a new password

If you have lost your password, you must set a new password. To begin this process, please key in your 12-digit NRIC No. below.

Forgot Firm Username/ Password?

Please enter name of firm or registered email address, indicate whether you want to retrieve your firm's username or password, and click "Submit".

Username Password
 
Access to Member Portal

Please key in your membership number, and click "GO"

BC
Resume Practice Request

Please key in your membership number, and click "GO"

BC
Newly-Called Request

Please key in your pupil code, and click "Submit"

Pupil Code

Change Password


Please enter your Password and Confirm Password then click on the Change Password button.
You will receive a new password shortly. Use this new password to access the site.

Password:
Confirm Password:
 
Change Password


Shortcut
  • Legal Directory
  • Find a Job
  • CPD
  • Online Shop
  • e-Library
  • Payments
  • Complaints
  • Committees

Search the site

  • Search Me
Member Login
  • BC Online Facilities
  • Login Type 2
  • Login Type 3
  • Login Type 4
  • News
  • Press Statements
  • Press Statements
News
Press Statements
  • Press Statements
Speeches
  • Speeches
Bar News
  • Notices
  • News
AGMs and EGMs
  • Resolutions
In Memoriam
  • In Memoriam
Legal and General News
  • General News
  • Members' Opinions
  • Legal News
Court Judgments
  • Judgments
  • Go back to list
Press Release | Excessive Sentencing Involving Those Who Violate the Movement Control Order 28 Apr 2020 10:06 pm

The Malaysian Bar is disturbed by accounts of excessive sentences and cases of disparity in sentencing between ordinary people and those with influence, in relation to persons who have violated the Movement Control Order (“MCO”). 
 
We acknowledge that the range of sentences handed down may well be within the ambit of the law, but the power of the Court to hand down sentences must be exercised judiciously in order to avoid any travesty of justice.

The Malaysian Bar urges the Court to temper justice with compassion, especially when we are not dealing with instances of violent crime. Reformative considerations must be foremost in the mind of the Court when handing down sentences to those who violate the MCO. 

Section 25 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 gives the Director General of Health the discretion to offer compounds for any offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.  We urge the Director General of Health to exercise this discretion conferred by law. 

The Government has stated that since the beginning of the MCO until 25 April 2020, a total of 20,011 people have been arrested for violating the MCO.1  It is not clear how many of these people have been imprisoned. 

Incarcerating someone in a crowded place will make it more difficult to contain the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.  While violating the MCO should not be taken lightly, sending violators to jail is a cure that is worse than the disease.

Putting people in jail may send a deterrent message to the public, but it adds to the problem of COVID-19 transmissions in courts and prisons. 

The Courts must administer justice with compassion and give due consideration to all mitigating factors that gave rise to the offence.  It is justice that we must pursue and not simply punishment.


Salim Bashir
President
Malaysian Bar

28 April 2020


1 “MCO: Arrests of violators up to 557 people on Saturday – Ismail Sabri”, Astro Awani, 26 April 2020. 
 

© Copyright Reserved 2023. Bar Council Malaysia.
 

I'm a

 
 
 
 
 

I'm a