Specific Legal Provision on Pre-Charge Detention for Further Offences: A Viewpoint of Police Enforcement in Malaysia

Abstract

Investigative detention plays a significant role in the Malaysian criminal justice system. At this stage, a suspect is still presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, there are situations where a suspect is detained for a long period for having more than one police report lodged against the suspect (further offenses). Such detention is referred to as chain remand. The practice of chain remand represents a blatant abuse of power by the Royal Malaysian Police and it is an infringement of an individual’s fundamental human rights both under the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This practice exploits the existing loopholes and abuses the remand proceedings in order to unlawfully detain a person under the veil of legality. Therefore, this article will highlight the experience of investigating officers who have handled chain remand cases. This study recommends the specific laws of chain remand be regulated to prevent police officers from continuing to be accused of abusing their power. The methodology of this study is based on semi-structured interviews with 18 investigating officers who have experience conducting chain remand cases in Malaysia. Besides the interview, the author also used the comparative-legal method to look at the application of law in countries other than Malaysia. The results of this study show that there are weaknesses and loopholes in the existing legislation when the existing legislation fails to curb the problem of chain remand. Nevertheless, legal weaknesses are not the only factors contributing to the problem of chain remand practice; there are other factors such as the non-existence of clear guidelines to manage the chain remand cases, the difficulty of obtaining good cooperation from the complainant who lodged the police report, the inadequacy of courses to assist the police in carrying out their duties more smoothly, and the role of the prosecutor and the courts to expedite the order process involving chain remand cases. Therefore, this study indicates the importance of the existing laws, specifically on chain remand, in addition to suggesting other improvements related to chain remand to solve this problem.