Proposed National Harmony Bill may be renamed

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed National Harmony Bill may be renamed once details are finalised, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri.

She said the Government needed to look at the elements and form of offences that could be included into the Bill, which may lead to a name change.

“At the moment, we are calling it the National Harmony Bill, but once we have finalised it, we might have to change the name but we don’t know it yet,” she said after launching the MIC legal and bankruptcy aid clinic yesterday.

The Law Minister said the Bill, which is to replace the Sedition Act 1948, needed to highlight more “positive elements rather than offences”.

Nancy, who is also Batang Sadong MP, said her department was still gathering feedback from stakeholders and the Bill was not expected to be tabled any time soon.

In 2012, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the Sedition Act would be repealed and replaced with a new National Harmony Bill as part of the country’s political transformation plan.

In her speech, Nancy said last year, the number of bankrupts pre­sent for case administration in the Malaysian Department of Insol­vency (MDI) increased 51% from 26,021 individuals to 39,279 individuals in 2013.

“There was also an increase of 4% seen in the number of bankrupts making monthly instalment payments, from 116,939 individuals in 2012 to 121,051 individuals in 2013.”

She said 16,394 individuals were awarded certificates of discharge in 2013.