PETALING JAYA: The Registration of Criminals and Undesirable Persons Act (RCUPA) may be obscure, but its impact on those listed can be profound.
Being marked as “undesirable” under the Act can cost individuals job opportunities and the chance to rebuild their lives.
Enacted in 1969, the 55-year-old registry currently contains over a million names and is used by employers, particularly large companies, to carry out a background check before hiring a person.
The registry contains not only the names of convicted individuals but also those who have merely been questioned by police or served as witnesses in criminal cases, regardless of whether they were charged with any crime.
Besides the police and courts, any enforcement agency may submit names of such “undesirable” individuals to be added to the registry for a slew of offences under over 38 laws in the country.
Except for those under 18, those convicted in court will have their names and fingerprints recorded in the Malaysia-Singapore Criminal Registrar Centre in Bukit Aman under the Act.
At present, the name of a convict will remain in the registry until the person reaches the age of 70 or only after the conviction is quashed.
Also included are the names of those “not wanted” but whose details have already been noted down by authorities, those granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal and those called to testify in a criminal case.
Currently, the Home Minister is empowered under Section 13 of the Act to take administrative action, such as ordering the destruction of the registrable particulars of anyone who has been banished, expelled or restricted but who has not been convicted of a registrable offence.
Section 12 also allows the Inspector-General of Police to make an exemption for a conviction with a fine of not exceeding RM100 or a conviction without being sentenced to a prison term.
During a function on Tuesday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail described the law as “unique” which could result in unjust outcomes, particularly for those who had served their time or are not wanted by the authorities but whose name are still on the registry.
Saifuddin Nasution himself expressed shock upon learning recently that there were over a million names on the registry and he immediately ordered his ministry to see if some of those names could be removed.
He said he decided to take action on the matter after being deeply moved by an incident where a man was unable to secure a job at a lumber company in Kelantan as his name was on the registry despite having never been charged with any crime.
Although the minister and IGP are empowered to remove certain classes of individuals from the registry, Saifuddin Nasution said the law must be amended to address the issue in a more comprehensive manner.
“We will do it both ways – through administrative powers that the minister can invoke and through law by way of amending the Act.
“We must do what is right to clear their names and give them a second chance at life,” he said at the event at Kompleks Penjara in Kajang.
The Home Ministry is currently working on a policy paper to be brought to the Cabinet for approval before carrying out amendments.
No time frame has been given for when the proposed amendments will be finally brought to Parliament for approval.
