Perpetrator of

stalking should be
criminalise through
specific stalking law
Literature Review
We had relied on a few sources to ensure the validity of our research. We have
used both primary and secondary data to assist us in this research as well as a
few literary sources to help broaden our knowledge regarding stalking actions.
We had organized this discussion thematically to apprehend the fundamental
sub-issues within the stalking crimes.
Primary sources of data, we depended on statutes as well as cases. We chose
to inspect Domestic Violence Act 1994 (Act 521) and Penal Code Malaysia.
Both statues did not explicitly define and criminalise stalking either as a form of
domestic violence or sexual abuse. The only present statues regarding stalking
is cyber stalking which is even more pervasive and invasive .
Secondary sources of data such as encyclopaedia, dictionaries, books
collections, journals and newspapers.
i. Stalking is define in Blacks Law Dictionary , as the offence of following or loitering near
another, often surreptitiously, with the purpose of annoying or harassing that person or
committing a further crime such as assault or battery.
ii. From Encyclopedia of Criminology , stalking possesses sinister and threatening
connotations. Victims are being hunted and harassed, powerless and unable to stop
these relentless and threatening pursuits.
 In the book entitled The Criminalisation of Stalking: Constructing the Problem and
Evaluating the Solution , there are types of conduct that will commonly occur in
stalking cases. These were relatively small scale studies that were usually focused
upon a particular subject, such as domestic violence or psychotic and mentally
disordered stalkers.
This is the reason why the government need to amend the Domestic Violence Act
to criminalised stalking. As stated in the Malay Mail newspaper with the title of
Recognise stalking as domestic violence , stalking can cause harm and is
indicative of worse. The person who is being stalked could faces major mental
health consequences such as anxiety, depression, guilt, helplessness, and
symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.
The obvious solution is to amend the Penal Code to criminalise stalking because
stalking is not explicitly listed as an offence in the Penal Code . Although the
Domestic Violence Act do offers some form of protection but they are not enough.
For instance, protection order can prohibit the accused person from, among others, going
near any protected person and instruct the accused person to avoid making
communication by any means with any protected person. However, protection order often
cannot protect against stalking. First, a victim can only apply if the domestic violence case
goes to court where most cases end during police investigations. Next, the court may
choose not to include in the protection order the specific orders protecting against stalking.
Lastly, the order is only valid for a maximum of 12 months, and can only be renewed once.
This cause great difficulty to the innocent ones.
Scope
We choose Malaysia as our appointed location. It is our home nation
which means that we have hands on experience on how the law is
being implemented here. We will be able to directly observe and
understand what is happening thus, having a better degree on
estimating future implications if changes are made on certain laws in
Malaysia.
In a more specific terms, our research will be conducted in Universiti
Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah.
We will particularly inspect on stalking issues occurred in Malaysia. For
instance, cases regarding stalking in any form. Unfortunately, in
Malaysia, there is no specific law that criminalises stalking. Hence, we
will investigate and analyse on the Domestic Violence Act (1994) as
well as the Penal Code in Malaysia to prove the significance of
implementing a legislation on stalking.
Methodology
In order to achieve our objectives, we apply two methods of
data collection which are library and non-library based research.
Our library research includes analysing both primary sources of
data and secondary sources of data. Our primary sources of
data includes analysing statutes and cases regarding this
problem. Meanwhile, our secondary data consists of examines
books collections regarding stalking law in other countries such
as The Criminalisation of Stalking: Constructing the Problem and
Evaluating the Solution by Emily Finch and Stalking:
Perspectives on Victims and Perpetrators . This method allows
us to formulate principles of a new solution model regarding the
stalking issue.
For our non-library research, we had performed a few
interviews as well as handling out questionnaires to students of
Universiti Utara Malaysia to gain their perspectives on this issue.
The advantages of performing interviews are the interviewer could read
nonverbal cues and can clarify the questions as well as adding new
questions. Unfortunately, using interviews, they took a lot of our
personal time as well as the interviewees time which cause some of
them refused to elaborate further.
In terms of questionnaires, we had formulated a written set of questions
to which the respondents record their answers. This method is
beneficial in collecting completed responses within a short period of
time. Moreover, they consume less time or money. On the other hand,
we do not deny that using questionnaires limit the usage of professional
jargon about laws due to our chosen public consists of random students
from various courses. The respondents may also face difficulties to
understand the questions because it does not relate to their expertise.