PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar and a retired judge have urged lower court judges to stop making religious laced remarks when meting out sentences to accused persons irrespective of their race and faith.
They said magistrates and Sessions Court judges should also heed the recent advice by the Court of Appeal which also touched on the matter.
Bar president Salim Bashir said judges had wide latitudes to consider all information before pronouncing punishments.
“Previous convictions, subject matters of a crime, public interest and other legally relevant variables are the only important considerations in a sentencing process,” he said.
He said comments should not have any reference to religious or divine judgments in determining the measure of punishment.
“No one should be punished severely or conversely shown leniency based on emotions or religious teachings,” he added.
Retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram said the Malaysian legal system is secular and governed by laws enacted by Parliament.
“It is not governed by the content of any religion. There is no mention of hell or heaven in the penal provisions of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission Act, which is the law directed at the prevention and punishment of corrupt activity,” he said.
As a dispenser of secular justice, he said, it was not apposite to address an accused convicted of corruption along religious lines merely because the prisoner is a Muslim.
“What if he were of a different faith? Are we going to address him in terms of his personal religion?
“The fact of the matter is that bribery is a serious offence as it eats into the social fabric and weakens it. And it matters not whether the perpetrator is a Muslim, a Hindu, a Christian or Bahai. He or she will suffer in prison. Not in hell,” he added.
They were reacting to Sessions Court judge Rozilah Salleh’s remark that people who offer or accept bribes would burn in hell, stating that it’s a reminder for everyone present.
Her comments came before sentencing immigration officer Zalizi Ismail to 30 days’ jail and a fine of RM20,000 after he pleaded guilty to receiving a bribe of RM12,000 from a man last week.
The judge also reprimanded the accused for failing to uphold the trust and responsibility given to him to safeguard the country’s entry/exit points by releasing foreign nationals detained at KLIA.
“I want you to believe in your guilty plea. If you are punished in this world, I pray it is sufficient as kifarah (retribution) for you in the hereafter,” she said.
Zalizi, 26, received the money from Chu Wing Kong to speed up the repatriation process for two detainees, Zhou Guifang and Zhu Xiangliang, to China.
He committed the offence on Dec 2 at a petrol station near the airport.
On Oct 1, Court of Appeal judge Yaacob Sam also advised trial judges in the lower courts to refrain from raising religious factors in sentencing Muslims.
He said all accused persons must be treated equally in the eyes of the law in accordance with Article 8 of the Federal Constitution.
“Statements touching on religion should be avoided. Would the court take such an approach if the accused is a non-Muslim?” asked Yaacob.
He said there was also no different set of moral values irrespective of whether the offenders were Muslims or otherwise.
Yaacob, who sat with judges P Ravinthran and Ahmad Nasfy Yasin, made this remark in dismissing an appeal by the prosection to increase the jail term of a jobless man who had an incestuous relationship with his daughter-in-law.
Lawyer Varpal S Sagoo, who appeared for the 68-year-old accused, submitted that the Sessions Court judge in Kuala Kangsar was swayed by emotion in making her judgment.