Umno MP: Child rapist should be jailed

Barisan National’s Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin spoke out against the lenient sentence handed out to a 22-year-old electrician convicted of raping his 12-year-old girlfriend.

“I don't give a damn about your mitigating factors this guy should be jailed,” tweeted Khairy, who is also Umno Youth chief.

This came following a news report by English daily The Sun yesterday that the Sessions Court in Penang spared electrician Chuah Guan Jiu from jail despite finding him guilty ofstatutory rape of the underaged girl.

Convicted under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code for raping the girl on two occasions last year, Chuah faced up to 20 years' jail and whipping, but was only bound over for three years on a good behaviour bond of RM25,000.

Echoing the Court of Appeal’s controversial verdict involving national bowler Nor Afizal Azizan who also escaped custodial sentence for statutory rape, judge Nisa Abdul Aziz said Chuah was “young and had a bright future”.

The daily also reported that the court found that the sexual act was consensual, with no trickery on Chuah’s part, and took into account that he was not highly educated, having dropped out of school at form two.

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal bound over national bowler Nor Afizal (left) for good behaviour for five years after overturning his jail sentence for his statutory rape conviction by the lower court.

In the written judgment, the Court of Appeal said it set aside the five-year jail term imposed by the Malacca High Court to give Nor Afizal "another chance in life" in the hope that he would "turn over a new leaf".

Despite near identical sentencing, Court of Appeal president Md Raus Sharif, who led the three-member bench in the national bowler’s case, had stressed that the decision should not be construed to apply to all young offenders in similar cases.

‘Verdicts paint judiciary as less than fair’

Meanwhile Gerakan central committee member Cheah Soon Hai expressed regret that the statutory rape cases’ verdicts had caused discontent among the people as it painted the judiciary as being less than fair and just.

Both verdicts handed out to Chuah and Nor Afizal, argued Cheah, made it seem as if the court gave a special “halo” to certain crime offenders.

“Is it fair for the victims? How (is it)possible to convince the public (of judicial integrity)?

“Does the judgment signify that national athletes, as long as they are deemed to have ‘a promising future’, will easily escape the jail sentence even if they have committed a crime?

“This is completely a wrong and unhealthy example,” he said in a statement.

He stressed that the sacred spirit of the law posits that everyone is equal, and whoever commits the crime should bear the consequences and accept punishment.

Cheah believes that the cases have caused the people to feel that justice is not served and to lose confidence in the judiciary.

“In order to restore the people’s confidence in the justice and fairness of the judiciary, the institution should rediscover its coordination as well as to be fair and consistent with its stand and judgment,” concluded Cheah.