A SPECIAL committee has been set up to study possible amendments to Section 97 of the Child Act 2001, mainly on the risk of indefinite detention of children.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran (pic) said the government was aware of the lack of a fixed detention period under the existing law.
He said the need to review the provision was essential after the mandatory death penalty and life imprisonment was abolished in 2023, introducing clear imprisonment terms for adult offenders.
“The committee will examine improvements to the provision so that it is consistent with the principles of the best interests of the child, juvenile justice and international best practices.
“The government itself is in the phase of reviewing and discussing policy regarding proposed amendments to Section 97 of Act 611.
“This includes reviewing improvements such as clearer determination of detention periods, annual review mechanisms and approaches more focused on rehabilitation and reintegration of children into society,” he said in reply to Kesavan Subramaniam (PH-Sungai Siput), who wanted to know the number of people still detained under Section 97 of the Child Act 2001, and the government’s efforts to better align the law with international standards.
Kulasegaran said committee members will include representatives of relevant ministries and government agencies, professional legal bodies and child rights experts, such as from the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and Unicef.
He said there were currently 40 individuals detained under Section 97 of the Child Act 2001.
They comprised those who have been detained for less than a year (four); one to five years (14); five to 10 years (seven); 10 to 15 years (eight); 15 to 20 years (four) and 20 to 25 years (three).
