KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — After months of bloody face-offs and gangland-style street shootings, Putrajaya turned the heat up a notch today in its war against gangsters, mooting sweeping legislative amendments to ensure no criminal escapes the long arm of the law.
Several amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today will see stricter rules on gangsterism and grant wider enforcement powers to the authorities when rounding up criminals.
Among others, a new clause to the Penal Code – Section 130x – will now empower enforcers to nab those daring to assist gangsters by preventing their arrests, and slapping them with charges that could see them behind bars for up to five years.
Gang recruiters could face jail terms of up to 10 years and a fine, while those who join a gang knowing that it would contribute to a crime, among others, will be liable for the same punishment.
But the heaviest penalties under these new clauses were reserved for offenders who are already part of an organised criminal group.
Under the proposed section 130ZC, a gang member who has already committed a serious offence will be whipped, in addition to imprisonment for double the maximum jail term of the original offence.
For committing a non-serious crime, a gang member will also be whipped and face a jail term of between two years and double the maximum jail term.
New clauses in the Penal Code puts serious offences as having jail terms of 10 years or more, while non-serious offences are defined as those will a maximum 10 year jail term.
The proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), in turn, include a new clause – Section 386A – that will ban the release of gang members on bail if they are accused of committing a serious offence.
Gang members who are accused of committing non-serious crimes will also be refused bail if the public prosecutor issues a certificate.
But the same clause states that the gang members refused bail should face trial in court “within a reasonable time”.
Another new clause, Section 399B, could make it easier for the prosecution to prove in court that an accused is a gang member.
The court will presume that an accused is a gang member if evidence proves that the accused took part in gang rituals or shows the gang’s hand sign or insignia, among other things.
Under the same clause, the court will accept the testimony or report of an expert on gang activities as “conclusive proof of the facts”, with the evidence covering matters such as the “structure, ritual, ceremonies, hand sign, insignia or characteristic” of an organised criminal group.
