Child beggars syndicate in Malaysia: a review of Section 32 of Child Act 2001 / Muhammad Firdaus Arshad

This research paper has been conducted in relation of the issue of the Child Beggars Syndicate in pursuant of Section 32 of the Child Act 2001 [Art 611]. In the said Act, everyone is forbidden to cause a child in any circumstances to beg, whoever who causes so would be liable under the offence of the provision. In our finding, it was found out that the two main limitations in section 32 are due to the vagueness of some of the terms in the provision and as to the punishment provided which is too lenient to be imposed on the syndicate. Punishment under this provision has been compared with other countries such as United Kingdom, Japan and Brunei, the purpose is to look at the effectiveness and the relevancy of the higher punishment. In Malaysia, the maximum punishment is only five thousand ringgit and two years imprisonment meanwhile the other three countries includes whipping and also strict fine. In the three former countries, there are only few cases in relation to child beggars compared to number of cases in our country. In order to decrease the number of child beggars behind the irresponsible syndicate, we have gathered some recommendations and suggestions from people who are expert in relation to this matter. In conclusion, the provision of Section 32 of Child Act 2001 needs to be refined and adding a new clauses to provision which specifically deals with child beggar syndicate with appropriate level of punishment need to be enacted to fill in the lacunae in the existing sections.