Tiada asas undang-undang tahan budak 9 tahun, kata aktivis

Activist Chow Kit Hartini Zainudin stated that there is no legal basis to detain a nine-year-old Rohingya boy in custody. The activist criticized the High Court's decision to reject bail for three Myanmar children accused of criminal intimidation. She questioned whether the authorities would treat Malaysian children in the same way, emphasizing that they would contact parents, obtain assistance from social welfare officials, and serve as mediators between family members, using the Children's Act as intended by Parliament.

The Children's Act protects every child in Malaysia and has no nationality clauses. The High Court's reaction to the detained children's treatment should concern anyone working in child protection, she added. On Friday, the High Court rejected bail for three Myanmar boys, two aged 11 and 12, after they were accused of criminal intimidation against an elderly Malaysian woman.

However, the Supreme Court later overruled that decision and allowed the three children to be released on bail. They were held together with a nine-year-old boy arrested on October 27 and held in custody for four days. "There is no legal basis to detain a nine-year-old child as a suspect," Hartini stated. She noted that the Prevention of Cruelty Act provides that children under 10 cannot commit criminal acts, while children under 14 cannot be imprisoned even if accused of wrongdoing.

According to the Children's Act 2001, these children should be released. She also pointed out that the children might not understand the charges against them and that, although the court provides interpreters, many Rohingya children cannot speak Burmese. She questioned the media's coverage of the case, including the use of photographs of the children in court, publishing their home addresses, and revealing information about their family's close proximity to the accused.

"Section 15 of the Children's Act was created to prevent exactly this from happening," she said, referring to the provision that regulates media reporting and the dissemination of information about children involved in legal proceedings.