Malaysia legislation
Section 29
Section 29
Public records to be surrendered on demand
(1)
A person who, not being a public officer with special permission to keep and handle records in the course of his official duties, is in possession of any public records which—
(a)
are more than twenty years old; or
(b)
are non-current public records which in the opinion of the Director General are or are likely to be of permanent and enduring national or historical value or both, shall, on demand by the Director General or a proper officer, surrender the public records to the custody and control of the
National Archives.
(2)
A public record the surrender of which is demanded under subsection (1) need not be surrendered if the head of the public office or the head of the Government enterprise has permitted the person referred to in that subsection to retain possession of the record.
(3)
Any person who, without the permission referred to in subsection (2), fails to surrender public records as required under subsection (1) commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.
(4)
This section shall apply to all public records regardless whether they were taken possession of before or after the coming into operation of this Act.
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