EVIDENCE ORDINANCE (EXTENSION) ORDER 1971

a Judge;

a President of a Sessions Court;

a Magistrate; and

except an arbitrator, every person legally authorised to take evidence;".

any printed paper purporting to be (i) the Gazette printed under the authority of the Government of Malaysia or of any State thereof;

any printed paper purporting to be—

the London Gazette; or

any legislation enacted by the legislature of any State; or

any legislation enacted by Parliament or by the legislature of any part of the Commonwealth;

the Gazette of any other part of the Commonwealth including, where any part thereof is both under a central Government and a local Government, any such local Government, is a relevant fact.".

the proof that he has committed or been convicted of such other offence is admissible evidence to show that he is guilty of the offence wherewith he is then charged;

he has personally or by his advocate asked questions of the witnesses for the prosecution with a view to establish his own good character, or has given evidence of his good character, or the nature or conduct of the defence is such as to involve imputations on the character of the prosecutor or the witnesses for the prosecution; or

he has given evidence against any other person charged with the same offence.".

all laws or regulations having the force of law now or heretofore in force or hereafter to be in force in Malaysia or any part thereof;

all public Acts passed or hereafter to be passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and all local and personal Acts directed by it to be judicially noticed;

articles of war for the armed forces or any visiting force lawfully present in Malaysia;

the course of proceedings in Parliament, in the federal legislatures that existed in Malaysia before Parliament was constituted, in the legislature of any State in Malaysia and in the Parliament of the United Kingdom;

the accession of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and the accession of the Ruler of any State in Malaysia and the appointment of a Governor, including the Yang di-Pertua Negara of Sabah;

the accession and the sign manual of the Sovereign for the time being of the United Kingdom;

the seals of all the courts of Malaysia, all seals which any person is authorised to use by any law in force for the time being in Malaysia or of any part thereof, all seals of which English courts take judicial notice, and the seals of Courts of Admiralty and maritime jurisdiction and of notaries public;

the accession to office, names, titles, functions and signatures of the persons filling for the time being any public office in any part of Malaysia, if the fact of their appointment to such office is notified in the Gazette, or in any State Gazette;

the existence, title and national flag of every State or Sovereign recognized by the Yang diPertuan Agong;

the ordinary course of nature, natural and artificial divisions of time, the geographical divisions of the world, the meaning of Malay and English words, and public festivals, fasts and holidays notified in the Gazette or in any State Gazette;

the Commonwealth countries;

the commencement, continuance and termination of hostilities between Malaysia or any other part of the Commonwealth and any other country or body of persons;

the names of the members and officers of the court and of their deputies and subordinate officers and assistants, and also of all officers acting in execution of its process, and of all advocates and other persons authorised by law to appear or act before it;

the rule of the road on the land, sea regulations and the rules of the air;

all other matters which it is directed by any written law to notice.

the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;

the Parliament of Northern Ireland;

the Parliament of Great Britain;

the Parliament of England;

the Parliament of Scotland;

the Parliament of Ireland prior to the first day of January, 1801.".

if the maker of the statement either—

had personal knowledge of the matters dealt with by the statement; or

where the document in question is or forms part of a record purporting to be a continuous record, made the statement (in so far as the matters dealt with thereby are not within his personal knowledge) in the performance of a duty to record information supplied to him by a person who had, or might reasonably be supposed to have had, personal knowledge of those matters; and

if the maker of the statement is called as a witness in the proceedings:

In any civil proceedings, the court may at any stage of the proceedings, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case it is satisfied that undue delay or expense would otherwise be caused, order that such a statement as is mentioned in subsection (1) shall be admissible as evidence or may, without any such order having been made, admit such a statement in evidence—

notwithstanding that the maker of the statement is available but is not called as a witness; and

notwithstanding that the original document is not produced, if, in lieu thereof, there is produced a copy of the original document or of the material part thereof certified to be a true copy in such manner as may be specified in the order or as the court may approve, as the case may be.

Nothing in this section shall render admissible as evidence any statement made by a person interested at a time when proceedings were pending or anticipated, involving a dispute as to any fact which the statement might tend to establish.

For the purposes of this section, a statement in a document shall not be deemed to have been made by a person unless the document, or the material part thereof, was written, made or produced by him with his own hand, or was signed or initialled by him, or otherwise recognised by him in writing as one for the accuracy of which he is responsible.

For the purpose of deciding whether or not a statement is admissible as evidence by virtue of the provisions of subsections (1) to (4), the court may draw any reasonable inference from the form or contents of the document in which the statement is contained, or from any other circumstances, and may, in deciding whether or not a person is fit to attend as a witness, act on a certificate purporting to be the certificate of a registered medical practitioner, and, where the proceedings are with assessors, the court may in its discretion reject the statement notwithstanding that the requirements of this section are satisfied with respect thereto, if for any reason, it appears to it to be expedient in the interests of justice that the statement should be admitted.

In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a statement rendered admissible as evidence by this Ordinance, regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statement, and, in particular, to the question whether or not the statement was made contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the facts stated, and to the question whether or not the maker of the statement had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent facts.

For the purpose of any rule of law or practice requiring evidence to be corroborated, or regulating the manner in which uncorroborated evidence is to be treated, a statement rendered admissible as evidence by this Ordinance shall not be treated as corroboration of evidence given by the maker of the statement."

acts, orders or notifications of the Government of Malaysia or of any State thereof in any of its departments—

by the records of the departments certified by the heads of those departments respectively;

by a Minister in the case of the Government of Malaysia, and by the Chief Minister, a State Minister (if any), the State Secretary or the Permanent Secretary to the Chief Minister in the case of a State Government; or

by any document purporting to be printed by the authority of the Government concerned;

the proceedings of Parliament or of any of the federal legislatures that existed in Malaysia before Parliament was constituted or of the legislature of any State—

proclamations, orders or regulations issued by the Crown in the United Kingdom or by the Privy Council or by any Minister or department of the Crown—

the acts of the Executive or the proceedings of the legislature of a foreign country—

public documents of any other class in a foreign country—

the proceedings of a municipal body, town board or other local authority in Malaysia—