EVERY Malaysian who is now arrested by the police and remanded by the court for any criminal offence is entitled to get free legal aid or service from a lawyer, Datuk VK Liew said when met by the press during his visit to Kudat Magistrate’s Court here.
“The Legal Aid Foundation was launched by the Prime Minister on Feb 25 last year, and after training involving the country’s lawyers since then plus some reorganization, the legal aid service is now fully operational since April 2,” he said.
“This is a right given to any suspect of Malaysian origin when he or she is arrested by the police and brought to court for remand.
“The police is now obliged to inform the suspect of his rights to get a lawyer who is normally on standby.
“These lawyers have been trained under the scheme run by the Bar Council, the Sabah Law Association and the Advocates Association of Sarawak.
“The police will be supplied with a list of names of lawyers for the suspect to choose from.
“Of course, this does not stop any suspect from getting the service of any other lawyer not provided for by the Legal Aid Foundation. This is where the suspect can afford to get the service of his own lawyer.
“Previously, no free legal service was given to any suspect arrested and remanded by the court. They would have to pay if they needed a lawyer. Before April 2, only those charged in court , except for capital punishment cases, can apply for legal aid and they must satisfy the mean test where they have to show an income below RM25,000 per year.
“This is a single most important development in our criminal justice system where legal aid is available to all Malaysians. I had informed Parliament of this development last week,” he said.
Present at the visit were Datuk Teo Chee Kang, assemblyman for Tg Kapor, Tuan Brahim Ismail the director of Courts in Sabah, together with the magistrate and judicial officers from the Kudat Magistrate’s Court.
Meanwhile, Tuan Brahim Ismail disclosed that the Mobile Court would get two extra buses to add to the existing one.
“Hopefully, by end of this month, the mobile court from the state government will be operational and we will be able to use it to go to various districts to serve the people”
“At the moment the service for late birth registration has been suspended. We expect to resume the exercise as soon as possible. We are looking into beefing up certain departments to avoid any abuse of the system,” he further said without elaborating. (theborneopost)
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