For a stiffer penalty, punishment for the environmental violation was generally increased from Malaysian Ringgit 10,000 to Malaysian Ringgit 100,000 and from two years to five years imprisonment twenty years ago. Although the penalties are improved, the cases of environmental pollution and violation are yet increasing. This article examines the trend of punishment for environmental violations that imposed on the corporate entities or corporations. Focusing on the case of water pollution, the observations are made to the penalty’s provisions of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and the penalties imposed through the court judgment against the corporations. For this purpose, cases and charges of water pollution are obtained from the records of Department of Environment Malaysia. Moreover, views of the judges of the Green Court on both laws and judgments relating to penalties are acquired. The study found that: (a) there is a wide gap between the punishment imposed by law and the penalties positioned by court; (b) corporate entities are willing to pay fines; (c) courts are not ready to impose imprisonment for default of payment to the corporations or individuals within the corporations. Though addressing water pollution, the findings should be far-reaching surpassing other types of environmental pollution.

Assessment rate is the only local tax form in Malaysia and it is a main source of income for local authorities. It is also may be considered as a potential source of income to replace grants from the Federal Government. Revenue from assessment rates is crucial for the local authorities to pay for services and maintenance in the local authority administrative areas, as well as for their effective administration and service delivery system. However, arrears of assessment rates of local authorities in Malaysia have become national issues and it becomes more challenging over time to recover the arrears. Local authorities are faced with various issues and problems in collecting and enforcing arrears of assessment rates. Thus, it is the aims of this study to examine the problems of rate assessment arrears collection and to identify regulatory barriers in collecting assessment rates arrears amongst local authorities. The scope of the study however is limited to the local authorities in the northern region of Malaysia only. The study employs socio-legal research where apart from library based research, questionnaires were distributed to legal officers, valuation officers and accountants from various department of local authorities. This study finds that the amount of revenue collected is decreasing due to loopholes of the law and ineffective enforcement of the law by local authorities. It is also found that the local authorities’ officers lack of understanding of the law and procedures on the collection of assessment rates arrears. It is suggested that the law should be amended and the training should be provided for the improvement of the assessment rate collection.

The spread of Covid-19 requires a new norm in all aspects of life. To a democratic country, the conduct of an election is a must to ensure the system is in line with the rule of law. Malaysia announced her ‘lockdown’ on 18th March 2020 after the increase in the numbers of Covid-19 positive cases. Since then, three elections have been conducted. This paper aims to explore the constitutional provisions relating to elections and study the methods elections been conducted during the pandemic. To curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus, suggestions are made to tighten the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the last straw of proclaiming emergency. In conclusion, the constitutional provisions must be strictly complied with and cooperation from all walks of life is important to combat the pandemic.

In Malaysia, a provision on peaceful assembly is stipulated under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which combines the freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and association. However, these freedoms have restrictions which are usually justified under the broad stroke of maintaining racial harmony and public order. Prior to 23 April 2012, section 27 of the Police Act was implemented to govern a public assembly, and the enactment of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA 2012), then, gives some light to the right of assemble peacefully. The objective of this article is to examine by comparing SUHAKAM’s recommendations with the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. To achieve the objective, the doctrinal legal research has been used, specifically the analytical and comparative methods. Keywords: Peaceful Assembly, Act, Police, SUHAKAM, Recommendation

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