Section 43
Punishment for misdemeanours and other contraventions in absence of specific provision
of Interpretation Ordinance, 2005, 2005
—
Where any enactment creates an offence which is expressed to be a misdemeanour and there is no express provision applicable in Sarawak regarding jurisdiction to try the offence or the penalty for it, a Sessions Court shall have jurisdiction and the penalty shall be imprisonment for seven years and a fine.
(2)
Subject to subsection (3), a contravention of a written law which has not expressly been declared to be an offence shall constitute an offence: Penalty, in the case of an Ordinance, imprisonment for five years or a fine of one hundred thousand ringgit or both, and, in the case of subsidiary legislation, imprisonment for three months or a fine of fifty thousand ringgit or both.
(3)
Subsection (2) shall not apply—
(a)
if some other remedy is provided by the relevant law;
(b)
without prejudice to disciplinary proceedings in respect of it, if the contravention consists merely of the dereliction of a duty imposed on an officer in the Government Service; or
(c)
to a breach of any law which contains any provision declaring which breaches shall constitute offences.
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(4)
The penalties provided by subsection (2) shall be applicable also if a contravention of a written law has been declared to be an offence but no provision has been made for the punishment of it.