Protection Of The Federal Constitution Of Malaysia

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unreasonable delay, and in any case within twenty-four hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey) be produced before a magistrate and shall not be further detained in custody without the magistrate’s authority.

In the case of Chong Kim Loy v. Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri, Malaysia & Anor; [1989] 3 MLJ 121, the applicant sought a writ of habeas corpus claiming his being detained was unlawful and in violation of Art. 5(3) as he wasn’t being informed of the grounds of his arrest as soon as may be. The applicant had also raised the point that he had been violated under Art. 5(4) of the constitution by reason that he had not been produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest and detention at the police station. The constitutional rights to fundamental liberties of the person can further be seen in the case of Assa Singh v. Menteri Besar, Johore; [1969] 2 MLJ 30 where the applicant argued in his case that inter alia, i) he wasn’t informed of the grounds of his arrest, ii) that he wasn’t produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest; both of this arguments of which are provisions of Art 5(3) and Art. 5(4) of the Federal Constitution.

Art. 6 of the Federal Constitution provides further protection as to the rights of the citizens or in this context, persons by prohibiting slavery and forced labour. Art 6(1) provides that No person shall be held in slavery. This rather short sentence simply means to emphasize that the people’s rights are protected in a way that they are not bound to do any thing upon coercion by anyone. The adequacy seems appropriate when we question the extend of protection the Federal Constitution provides to the rights of the citizens. With this article, the people are automatically given the freedom and choice to engage in their activities. Though forced labour is prohibited, the exception to this article is provided in Art. 6(2): All forms of forced labour are prohibited, but Parl...