DAP welcomes the statement of the de facto law minister Nancy Shukri that she supports our call to set up of a registry of sex offenders. In return, DAP is willing and ready to work with her in order to work out the full details and mechanism so that together we can make Malaysia a safer place.
At the same time, I also agree with YB Nancy Shukri, that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) should seek a review under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court on the recent Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit Bunya Jalong.
Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court says “nothing in these rules shall be deemed to limit or affect the inherent powers of the Court to hear any application or to make any order as may be necessary to prevent injustice or to prevent an abuse of the process of the Court.”
The acquittal of Bunya Jalong, who has admitted that he used his finger to penetrate his 15-year old victim, is a gross injustice that needs to be remedied immediately.
I also applaud the promise of Nancy Shukri to review the laws in order to ensure all these laws are amended to suit the current needs of our society.
Clearly, we need to expand the definition of rape under Section 375 of the Penal Code so that it does not only confine to unlawful sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. Rape should not be limited to penile penetration, and it’s time to make the crime of rape gender neutral. We also need to make it crystal clear that teenagers under the age of 16 are not capable to give consent to any form of sexual activity, as in the case of Bunya Jalong, it was alleged that the victim consented to the finger penetration.
For example, French law defines rape as any act of sexual penetration of any nature committed on another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise. According to French law, rape does not concern only penile penetration of the vagina or an offence involving only a man and a woman.[1]
The 1997 Anti-Rape Law of Philippines is also similar. It included insertion of the penis into another person’s mouth or anal orifice, or the insertion of any instrument or object into the genital or anal orifice of another person without consent as rape.
The decision of Court of Appeal will be a dangerous precedent that will make the prosecutor’s job to convict a rapist more difficult in the future. While we cannot control the decision of the Federal Court in the review, if any, we as lawmakers must do our part to reform and review the laws without any delay. I urge Nancy Shukri to engage us in the process of review.