2007 08: Youths languishing in prison for minor offences

The Star Online. News. Nation. Sunday August 5, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: A 19-year-old youth from Sabah has been languishing in prison for six months because his single mother is unable to post the court bail of RM1,000.

For his offence of not carrying his MyKad, Jeff Lee Kwong Yeung faces a fine of between RM3,000 and RM20,000 but his case has been postponed several times since he was first charged in court on Feb 5.

To complicate matters, the MyKad number Jeff gave was found to belong to someone else and his fingerprints are being verified to ascertain his identity ahead of his next court hearing on Aug 24.

Jeff, who is being remanded in Kajang Prison, is but one of the 2,718 male juveniles aged 14-20 who are at the Kajang, Sungai Buloh and Simpang Renggam jails as of May.

Many are there for petty crimes, including peddling illegal software, traffic offences and stealing handphones.

Some are also there for serious crimes such as murder, rape, assault and robbery.

James Nayagam, the executive director of Shelter Homes feels that courts need to be informed that youths with petty offences could be detained in Tunas Bakti boarding schools or other boarding schools and not necessarily in prison.

“Very often, the parents cannot afford to post bail and the detention period depends on how soon the courts can dispose of their case,” said James.

Even when they are released, the juveniles suffer all their lives as there is a social stigma attached to having been in prison, he added.

He also questioned the rationale of placing juveniles who commit minor offences together with those who commit serious ones.

“It is like placing them in a lion’s den,” he said during the recent Sixth National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect here.

If youths are detained in prison for serious offences, there has to be a timeframe for their cases to be heard, he added.

The period of detention should be no longer than the jail sentence itself, unlike the case of a 16-year-old boy who was detained for six months for selling illegal DVDs when the jail sentence was only three months.

James started working with juveniles in Kajang Prison three years ago and there were 350 juveniles there then. Today, the number has swelled to 650 juveniles.

The youngest prisoner James has come across was an eight-year-old. There are three categories of remanded juveniles – those remanded under the pleasure of the ruler, those convicted for other crimes and those awaiting trial. Adult prisoners, however, are separated from juveniles.

A matter of concern is the fact that some juveniles have been in jail for a long time while waiting to be tried in court.

“Cases have been postponed for six months just because someone didn’t turn up in court. Meanwhile, the youths are being exposed to other criminals,” said James.

Malaysian Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said it all boiled down to the issue of backlogged cases, and called on affected parents to inform the council so they could push for reform.

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Youth detained for not producing MyKad free at last

The Star Online. News. Nation. Tuesday August 7, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: A 19-year-old youth who had been languishing in Kajang Prison for six months and seven days for failing to produce his MyKad to the police for inspection was freed today.

Jeff Lee Kwong Yong had pleaded guilty in a magistrate's court here on Feb 5 to the offence but the sentencing was set for May 16 pending statement of facts. The case was postponed another five times for various other reasons, including mismatch of his MyKad number, unavailability of a probation report and a fingerprints report on him.

Lee, from Sabah, was finally handed his sentence today, with magistrate Tasnim Abu Bakar imposing a jail term of six months and seven days for the offence under the National Registration Regulations 1990. She ordered his jail term to run from the date of arrest on Jan 31.

The case was originally slotted for Aug 24 but was brought forward after the Bar Council, through its Criminal Law committee chairman Datuk V. Sithambaram, requested for an earlier date.

This followed a front-page report by The Star on Aug 5, highlighting Lee's plight. He was reported to be one of 2,718 male juveniles aged 14-20 who are at the Kajang, Sungai Buloh and Simpang Renggam jails as of May.

Yesterday Sithambaram questioned the many delays saying that it was unfortunate for his client to be detained for such a period for a minor offence.

He said his client lost his wallet together with his MyKad a day before his arrest and had wanted to lodge a police report over the matter before he was arrested.

He said he forgot the exact number of his MyKad adding that the police should have checked his particulars from his former employer.

Sithambaram said the move gave the police force and judiciary a bad name.

Sithambaram said the Bar Council was grateful to the court for bringing the case forward in view of public interest and fair justice.

Lee, who is a former cook, was charged with failing to show his MyKad to policewoman Seri Ariani Mahmud for inspection at Jalan Sultan here at 3pm on Jan 31.