Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said the move was to complement the establishment of the court in the effort to fight sexual crimes against children.

“This is to ensure smooth proceedings and trials involving children in courtrooms.
“It is different from the Court for Children which only handle cases where the criminal is a child,” she said in a media statement here yesterday.

In this regard, she said her ministry would be holding a meeting with the new Chief Justice of Malaysia Md Raus Sharif to discuss the setting up of the Special Crime Court as announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Azalina added that the government had listened to the views of all parties to ensure the Sexual Offences Against Children Bill 2017, which was passed by Dewan Rakyat yesterday, was formulated comprehensively to protect children from sexual criminals regardless of their age.

Among others, the bill regarded children as competent witnesses and a person found making, possessing and distributing child pornography could be jailed not exceeding 30 years with six strokes of the cane upon conviction.