Lawmakers still divided on domestic violence legislation

Lawmakers failed to reach a conclusion yesterday following discussions on an amendment to the Penal Code pertaining to the Domestic Violence Prevention and Correction Law.
Under the proposed domestic violence legislation, the Penal Code will be amended with an additional clause to one of its articles. This new clause will enable public prosecutors to actively indict perpetrators who have assaulted a family member with consequences that are “not mild.”
The Legislative Assembly First Standing Committee meeting president Kwan Tsui Hang said that this is a different approach to the original legislative intent of the Penal Code. “In the past, a family member has had the right to decide whether to press charges [against offenders] for some minor offenses against the family member. However, the domestic violence law aims at the opposite. The legislative intent of this bill is that a family member will not have the right to decide whether to pursue charges if the offender’s action has led to a more than mild consequence… This is totally opposite to the intent [of the Penal Code],” she said.
Kwan said there are also those who favor campaigning against amendments to the Penal Code, instead supporting legislation against the crime of domestic violence independently. However, the government insisted that the proposed legislation does not intend to create a new crime, but to allow the authorities to intervene in cases of domestic violence they believe will carry serious consequences.
The president said that legislators will consider the issue further and continue discussion after Chinese New Year.
Moreover, Kwan revealed that the AL committee will be meeting the Macau Domestic Violence Legislation Coalition to hear the opinions of the coalition’s 12 members. The meeting will take place on March 4, with members given 5 minutes to state their opinions.
The committee also received a letter requesting a meeting from the local LGBTI rights group, Rainbow of Macau, which is among the members of the coalition. However, Kwan has revealed that the committee has insufficient time to deal with a petition recently requested by the group.
Some committee members will also privately meet with a member from the Good Shepherd Sisters.