KUALA LUMPUR: The government is set to amend the Penal Code to include "any manner" of tracking, as a form of stalking, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said told the Dewan Rakyat today.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said this would also include tracking a person via satellite or Global Positioning System (GPS).
"Stalking is no longer physical anymore, it can be done through technology.
"People can take your phone… maybe your wife can use it on you, use your face (to unlock your phone) while you sleep and install (a tracking) application," she said at a press conference in Parliament today.
The new section, section 507A, categorised several actions as harassment, which included following or tracking a person in any manner or by any means; communicating or attempting to communicate with a person in any manner or by any means; loitering at the place of residence or business of a person; and giving or sending any thing to a person in any manner or by any means.
Under the new section, "stalking" is defined as "whoever repeatedly by any act of harassment intending to cause, or knowing or ought to know that the act is likely to cause, distress, fear or alarm to any person of the person's safety."
"Repeatedly" refers to at least two occasions.
Anyone found guilty of committing the offence would be punished with imprisonment for up to three years or slapped with a fine, or both.
The government would also be amending the Criminal Procedure Code allowing the court to issue a protection order against a person being investigated or charged with an offence of stalking.
The application for protection order under the new Chapter XA, could be made by the victim; the victim's counsel; or an adult, guardian, or relative of a child or incapacitated adult.