The council’s civil law and law reform committee co-chairman, M Ramachelvam, said this was practised in Sabah and Sarawak, as provided for under the Criminal Procedure Code.
“To a large extent, our bail system has become a cash system, and the imposition of conditions has become rather automatic,” he said at a panel discussion on reforming pre-trial detention and bail systems here today.
Ramachelvam said remand prisoners numbered 27,877, or 36% of the population in 42 jails nationwide, as of last October.
“It is a large number. Of course, some of them are ineligible for bail as they face murder, firearms and drug trafficking charges.
“However, the majority were unable to afford the bail sums proposed, and languished in prison pending the outcome of their cases,” he said.
Ramachelvam said the eJamin bail system did not provide for other forms of surety, like land titles, which used to be the practice.
He said the cash bail system had a greater impact on the poor than the wealthy, and that Malaysia should seriously consider the reforms undertaken in Commonwealth countries like South Africa, India, Canada and Australia.
He also said the Bar Council was suggesting for the government to decriminalise the self-administration of drugs, and that offences under the Minor Offences Act be revised as administrative breaches, with only fines to be imposed.
“All these measures will reduce the workload of the investigators, the prosecutors, and the lower court judges,” he said.
Senior criminal lawyer Hanif Hassan said as every person was innocent until proven guilty and should not be denied their liberty, bail should only be refused if one had absconded or tampered with evidence or witnesses.
“The aim of bail is merely to secure the attendance of the accused,” he said.
The discussion was part of a roadshow organised by the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department to facilitate feedback for a 25-member committee led by retired Federal Court judge Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal.
The committee has until September to review outdated provisions in the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act.