22 July 2019

Press statement by MCA Government Affairs Monitoring Committee

Govt must inform if Indonesia has requested extradition of Paul Yong to assist in rape allegation probe

The Government Affairs Monitoring Committee (GMC) is concerned with the lack of attention given by the authorities to investigate the allegations of rape against YB Paul Yong Choo Kiong, the Exco member of Perak.

Without making any assumption of the accused’s innocence or guilt, we wish to reiterate that justice delayed is justice denied. Delay in the investigation is unfair to both the accuser and the accused, as it creates uncertainty for both. Therefore, it is better for the police to carry out and complete their investigations as soon as possible to avoid uncertainty. It would be better for YB Paul Yong if the investigations were completed quickly as it would not hang over his political career.

We understand that Malaysia and Indonesia have arrangements for extradition that allow both countries to request the extradition of an accused, for purposes of investigation and for facing charges in the requesting jurisdiction. As far as we know, rape is among the offences which can be the basis for extradition. Hence, we wish to know whether the Malaysian government has received any request to extradite the said YB Paul Yong Choo Kiong to assist in the investigations. If such a request has been received, we hope that the authorities will inform the Malaysian public about it.

Finally, we hope that DAP lawmakers in Parliament will do what they can to ensure that the matter is investigated as soon as possible. DAP lawmakers have previously called upon the authorities to investigate various allegations of rape. However, after taking power, DAP lawmakers have been slow to respond to such allegations, including the allegations against YB Paul Yong. We hope that the DAP lawmakers will act fairly and do what they can to facilitate the investigations.

Thank you.

KEVIN KOO SENG KIAT

Practising lawyer

Member, MCA Government Affairs Monitoring Committee

-MCA online-