Lex; in Breve
The online supplement to our eponymous journal features concise and insightful articles penned by law students from the University of Malaya, as well as guest writers.
 Child marriage is presently legal for both Muslims and non-Muslims respectively. Owing to the recent headlines of reported cases of child marriage, this issue has re-emerged as a hot-button issue, with numerous calls to end the practice of child marriage.
I. INTRODUCTION The issue of child marriage sparked outrage in Malaysia owing to the controversial marriage of an 11-year-old girl to a 41-year-old man.[1] Malaysians have expressed grave concerns about the incident, resulting in clarion calls from many quarters to raise the floor age of marriage to 18. This call is especially pertinent in light of Pakatan Harapan’s pledge in its manifesto for the 14th General Election, which was to “ensure the legal system protects women’s rights and dignity”, including “introducing a law that sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage”.[2] However, the nation is currently witnessing the controversial handling of child marriage issue by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, headed by Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. The minister has received brickbats with reasonable justifications as it has been two months since the incident occurred, but there is yet to be any significant resolution proposed.[3] The answer to the people’s cries was repetitive — that the federal government does not have jurisdiction to intervene in child bride cases. Yet another case of child marriage was reported on the 18th of September in Kelantan where a 15-year-old girl tied the knot with a 44-year-old man, who is a father of two.[4] The author is of the opinion that the longer the ministry delays in reacting towards this controversial issue, the higher the number of young girls who will fall victim to child marriage and have their welfare and interest jeopardised.
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 The High Court here has granted an interim gag order against the media from discussing the "merits" of Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak's case Image credit: https://goo.gl/WAECbg I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, the arrest of former premier Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak) garnered massive attention from the rakyat and the world. In response to such scintillating news, the Malaysian media outlets have given vast coverage on this issue from the moment of arrest up until the hearing before the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Tenaciously, these media outlets prescribed the background information and details of this arrest, which happened due to graft allegations in the management of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad subsidiary known as SRC International Berhad by Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak and his counterparts.[1]  Public were generally cautioned in spreading news through online platforms. Anti-Fake news posters could be seen at public places such as Light Rapid Transit (LRT) and bus stations. Image credit: https://cilisos.my/wait-why-do-we-need-fake-news-laws-when-we-have-defamation-laws/ I. INTRODUCTION
As technology advances with time, the dissemination of fake news is becoming a global concern which affects the safety, economy and well-being of most countries. For instance, there is a widespread concern expressed in the United States (“US”) that the 2016 US Presidential Election (“2016 Election”) saw online falsehoods spread by private actors and Russia. Back in Malaysia, fake news has led to a shoe company, Bata Primavera Sdn Bhd, losing more than RM500, 000 in just a month after an allegation that went viral about the company selling shoes with the Arabic word “Allah”.[1] Fake news also sparked unnecessary public confusion when a fire broke out at the Employees Provident Fund (“EPF”)’s building and people began panicking that their EPF savings were affected by the fire.[2] Needless to say, the recent 14th General Election also observes an abundance of unverified election news spreading on media outlets.  On 25 March 2018, Uber Technologies Inc. was reported to have agreed to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab
I. Background E-hailing transportation services ventured into Malaysia in 2012 with two main competitors in the market: Uber and Grab.[1] These companies have made headlines multiple times over the last 6 years, especially for issues of the legitimacy of their operations and the insufficiency of regulations.[2] On 30 November 2017, the Land Public Transport (Amendment) Act 2017 and Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (Amendment) Act 2017 came into force, which then legalised the operations of Uber and Grab as ‘intermediation businesses’.[3] Since then, both companies have been relatively uncontroversial until recently on 25 March 2018, when Uber Technologies Inc. was reported to have agreed to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab.[4] This was not the first ‘retreat’ by Uber in a regional market, having sold its business in Russia and China to Yandex NV and Didi Chuxing respectively.[5] The details of the agreement were undisclosed, however it was confirmed that Uber will take a 27.5% stake in Grab, and Grab will take over Uber's operations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.[6] The agreement is also particularly beneficial for the biggest shareholder in both Uber and Grab – SoftBank Group Corp. – which avoids possible conflicts of interest since the competing rivals are now consolidated. The acquisition of Uber by Grab, or the ‘Uber-Grab merger’ raises several questions as to the nature of the agreement and whether it violates competition law. The after-effects of a merger which involves two major competing rivals in the same industry may lead to the monopoly of market and price fixing, which are issues of public interest. Assuming that the nature of the Uber-Grab deal is a merger, this article purports to discuss the jurisdiction of the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) on mergers as well as possible issues of pricing and anti-competitive behaviour. 4/24/2018 0 Comments Lawyers and Commerciality I. Introduction
A long time ago, in the sanctuary of Delphi in ancient Greece, dignitaries, heads of states, military leaders and commoners alike would form snaking lines to seek advice from Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi. Access to the sanctuary was limited to only a few days over nine months in a year, and to overtake the long lines, great sums were paid by some for Pythia’s oracles. The advices, believed to be from the gods, were communicated in indirect and mysterious ways. This left many departing visitors to Delphi to try to decipher the meaning of the advices they had received. Now, as the threadbare paths and remains of Delphi are trampled upon by the hordes of modern tourists released by the busloads each day, some clients may be forgiven for thinking that they have chanced upon their own Pythia when they receive legal advice from their lawyers. In this article, I will discuss the importance of commerciality to contemporary commercial legal practice.  Copyright refers to the right of the owner to control the doing of certain acts in relation to his or her created work Image credits: http://www.tannet.my/malaysia-copyright-protection/ I. Introduction
Copyright is a form of intellectual property. It is a legal term used to describe the rights that exist for the creators over their copyrighted work. An inference can be made that copyright was the first legal response to challenge new technology as it came into existence as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth century as a reaction to the rapid growth of moveable type printing presses which facilitated the production and distribution of printed materials. Prior to the rapid growth in the moveable type printing press in Johannes Gutenberg in what is now modern day Germany, rights involving creative works was never considered. Creative works were non-rivalrous despite existence and development of concepts relating to exclusiveness of property and goods. Throughout the glorious historic days of the Roman and Greek, written or spoken words were not covered by any sort of exclusivity.  The notion of Green Sukuk owes itself to when socially responsible investments are made with regards to the environment.
Image credits: https://www.shine.cn/archive/business/UN-partners-with-Alibaba-for-green-finance/shdaily.shtml I. Introduction Before we indulge in the elucidation of Green Sukuk, the query that shall be first unfolded is the definition of Sukuk. Sukuk is an Islamic bond engineered to generate returns to investors without infringing the Islamic law prohibiting riba or interest.[1] It is an investment in the assets using Shariah principles and concepts endorsed by the Shariah Advisory Council. In the case of conventional bonds, the issuer has a contractual obligation to pay interest and principal to bondholders on certain specified dates. In contrast, when investors buy Sukuk, they become Sukuk holders and receive a certificate from the issuer to evidence ownership. Hence, they are entitled to receive periodic profit payments on the principal amount invested. Upon maturity, the Sukuk holder will be reimbursed the principal amount of investment.[2] This article aims to study the evolution and rise of Green Sukuk where the investment is specified to finance climate action projects.  The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was established in 2015 during the 27th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I. Introduction The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established primarily as a political bloc and security pact in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. ASEAN’s key objective was to promote intergovernmental cooperation and to facilitate economic integration among its member states, with the particular aim to enhance economic growth and trade respectively. At present, South East Asia is known to be one of the most open economic regions globally. This view is derived from the fact that ASEAN merchandise exports accounts for nearly fifty four per centum (54%) of the total ASEAN gross domestic product (GDP) which totals to approximately seven per centum (7%) of global exports.[1] To-date, ASEAN as an organisation has immensely helped its member states in achieving impressive economic growth as well as regional stability by working together harmoniously. Statistics show that between 2007 and 2015, the region has grown at an annual rate of 5.2 per centum and perhaps what is more astonishing is that the poverty rate in the region has declined for more than fifty per centum (50%), from thirty three per centum (33%) to fifteen per centum (15%) as early as 2000.[2] Due to these significant results, the member states of ASEAN realised that much more could be achieved if they operated as a single economic entity. Therefore, with the mutual aim to create a single free trade area for the region, the member states agreed to consolidate, integrate and transform ASEAN into a community called the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2007 – the mission was inspired by the regional integration established in Europe. AEC is directly expected to increase competitiveness, narrow development gaps and improve resilience against external shocks. In December 2015, the AEC was formally launched and established making the initiative the biggest single economic policy in Southeast Asia. Despite its establishment, there is a long journey ahead before the AEC can become fully functional. Acknowledging this, the ten member states have mutually agreed on a blueprint to complete the programme by 2025. The 2025 AEC blueprint consist of five pillars namely, single market and production base, competitive economic region, equitable economic region, integration into the global economy and enhanced connectivity and sectorial cooperation. It is to be noted that although the milestone achieved by ASEAN member states so far have been modest, the region faces immense obstacles concerning the process of economic integration. In this article, obstacles that ASEAN needs to overcome in order to achieve a fully functional economic community shall be discussed. 3/14/2018 0 Comments Mediation in the Syariah Courts:An Empowering Alternative for Amicable Resolution in Syariah Disputes Mediation in Islam (Sulh) is an ancient idea but it is still relevant to our current needs. Image credits: https://farnfields.com/services-for-you/family-mediation/ I. INTRODUCTION
Mediation, also known as Sulh or Wasaatah in classical Islamic text, is not a foreign concept in the Islamic legal system as sources of Islamic law have consistently encouraged the endeavour for amicable settlement. In promoting peaceful conflict resolution, Muslim scholars have introduced approaches that are both systematic and fact sensitive. 3/10/2018 1 Comment The Spy Who Testifies - Quantum of Corroboration in Cases Involving Agent Provocateurs Does an agent provocateur need to be corroborated under the law? I. Introduction
Does Malaysia have an intelligence agency like the CIA or MI6? States usually have their own method of operative centre for matters of intelligence and espionage. What if James Bond was an agent of our own intelligence agency? He would most certainly be an agent provocateur, or in other words, a spy, and not merely an informer. That being said, let there be a hypothetical situation in which Mr Bond and friends were to fumble and be called in the Malaysian courts – does Mr Bond then require corroboration for the evidence given during his testimony before the court? Surely this has never happened in the British film series – having the greatest spy of all times to testify in court as a botched operation always gets concealed in the end. However, in reality, case laws have established on whether it is necessary to corroborate an agent provocateur and an informer. This article provides a comparative analysis of the legal positions in the jurisdictions of Malaysia, United Kingdom and Singapore. |