Amendments to Child Act in the pipeline

PUTARAJAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is looking to make some amendments to the existing Child Act 2001.
Its minister, Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim, said the amendments are likely to be tabled in Parliament for its first reading in two weeks time after she presents it to the Cabinet this week.
“One of the amendments that we are looking at is the imposing of a community service order on children, meaning that a child offender is required to undergo certain number of hours of community service at welfare or community homes.
“The reason for the order is because we don’t want these children to be left with any negative impact as a result of the punishment they receive as sometimes they are influenced into committing those offences,” Rohani told reporters during a press conference after officiating the second series of Federal Territory Women Entrepreneur Convention yesterday.
She added that another benefit of this community service order is that it will allow them to restore the child’s morale as well as bringing them back into the society.
Asked who will be deciding on the numbers of hours the child should serve, Rohani said it will be determined on the offence committed.
Rohani then mentioned that a proper briefing session with the relevant parties and media will be done after the amendments have gone through thes first reading so that all parties have a better understanding of the amendments.