KUALA LUMPUR – The Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry will study the proposal to impose a community service of between 100 and 150 days as punishment against individuals found mocking people with disabilities (PwD).
Deputy Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff said the ministry believed that the proposal should be implemented as community service programmes, outlining three main elements namely punishment, rehabilitation, and repentance.
“The ministry will look into the proposal further in the process of reviewing the PwD Act 2008,” she said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address on behalf of the ministry at Dewan Negara here today.
Siti Zailah said the ministry viewed seriously discriminatory acts committed against PwD, especially those spread on social media; however, she said, creating reasonable remedies and penalties to tackle the issue needed further scrutiny from the legal aspect.
She said such offences could be investigated under Section 233 (1)(a)(b) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, Section 504 of the Penal Code and Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955.
On the proposed PwD Commission, Siti Zailah said currently any complaints, appeals and petitions related to disabled rights violations could be addressed to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia and other existing laws.
Meanwhile, on the status of the PwD Action Plan 2016-2022, she said the ministry was reviewing the achievements of the programmes and actions under the plan based on the feedback received from lead agencies.
“The findings will be used as input for the development of a new PwD action plan apart from the findings from engagement sessions that would be held involving the disabled community, non-governmental organisations, and relevant agencies,” she added. – Bernama, March 28, 2022
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