10 Unfamiliar Laws of Malaysia

Penal Code Malaysia (Law of Malaysia Act 574)

1. Section 294 Obscene songs

Whoever, to the annoyance of others –

(b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words in or near any public place,

shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine or with both.

2. Section 309 Attempt to commit suicide

Whoever attempts to commit suicide, and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

3. Section 434 Mischief by destroying or moving, etc., a landmark fixed by public authority

Whoever commits mischief by destroying or moving any landmark fixed by the authority of a public servant, or by any act which renders such landmark less useful as such, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

4. Section 508 Act caused by inducing a person to believe that he will be
rendered an object of Divine displeasure

Whoever voluntarily causes or attempts to cause any person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do anything which he is legally entitled to do, by inducing or attempting to induce that person to believe that he, or any person in whom he is interested, will become or will be rendered by some act of the offender an object of Divine displeasure if he does not do the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to do, or if he does the thing which it is the object of the offender to cause him to omit, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

Minor Offences Act 1955

5. Section 10 Animals led or driven on a public road at night

(1) No horses, cattle, sheep, goats or pigs shall be led or driven on public road between the hours of sunset and sunrise unless such animals are in charge of at least one adult person carrying a light visible within a reasonable distance both in the direction in which such animals are being led or driven and in the reverse direction.

6. Section 15 Miscellaneous Nuisances

Bathing in Public

(b) bathes or washes himself, or any other person, animal or thing on any public road, or in or by the side of any public tank, reservoir, standpipe, watercourse or stream, the use of which for bathing has been forbidden by the Chief Police Officer or any other lawful authority;

Obstructing person bathing

(c) obstructs or incommodes a person bathing at any place set apart as a bathing place by wilful intrusion, or by washing any animal at or near such place, or in any other way.

7. Section 18 Disorderly conduct in hotels, boarding-houses, etc.

(1) The keeper of any hotel, boarding-house, public house, common lodging house, eating house, coffee shop or other place of public entertainment or resort who permits drunkenness or other disorderly behaviour in such house or place, or permits prostitutes or persons of notoriously bad character to meet or remain for the purpose of soliciting or misbehaving therein, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding three hundred ringgit or in the case of a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding five hundred ringgit.

8. Section 20 Corpses and dying persons

Whoever deposits or causes to be deposited any dying person or any corpse in any public place or in any private place without the consent of the owner shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.

9. Section 28(b) Fortune-tellers

Every person pretending or professing to tell fortunes, or using any subtle craft, means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive and impose upon any person.

10. Section 28(c) Wanderers failing to give a good account of themselves

Every person wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any vehicle, not having any visible means of subsistence, and not giving a satisfactory account of himself.