Over 2,000 archaic laws in country require revision, says Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR: There are over 2,000 archaic laws governing the country which require revision, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.

“We have a total of 2,443 archaic laws which predate 1969,” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) said when winding up her ministerial replies on the motion of thanks on the Royal Address in Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (March 14).

She noted that the laws were subject to review under the Revision of Laws Act which also empowers a Law Revision Commissioner to handle the tedious task.

Apart from the commissioner, she said that there is also a special unit under the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to assist with the review.

However, she said the commissioner and AGC face challenges in carrying out the daunting task.

Among the challenges, she said, were translating the laws into the national language including making improvements to bring the laws in line with current needs.

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“There is also a limited number of officers of such purpose as the review usually involves complex issues that require a dedicated team to give their full attention,” she added.

She said at present, a total of 144 archaic laws have undergone revision.

Azalina stressed that there was a difference between a revision of the law and reforming the law.

“Reform of the law involves existing laws which are amended and improved to bring them in line with what is happening in the country at the moment,” she said.

She added that the recent reforms included legislation on sexual crimes against children, stalking and insolvency.

Reforms were also made on laws related to human rights, including doing away with the mandatory death penalty.

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“For example, from March 2023 to January 2024, a total of 55,877 individuals were discharged from bankruptcy. This represents 42.9% of our target of 130,000 individuals who are bankrupts,” she added.

Meanwhile, Azalina said that there is still work and research to be done for the Fixed-Term Parliament Act and laws on political funding.

She added it is crucial not to rush the matter to ensure that the proposed laws are properly drafted before they are passed.

“Please be patient. Even if we are in love, we don’t just rush into marriage...even having a baby takes nine months.

“We are just (the government) for slightly more than a year,” she added.

She said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Cabinet ministers have never rejected any proposals on reforms.

“But because we are a responsible government, we need to do things in a way as the Chinese would say “man, man” (slowly).

“We do not want to make any mistake rushing into things.”

She added that most of the reforms required amendments to the Federal Constitution which should not be hastily done.