Power of the Armed Forces Council to make Pay and Allowances Regulations
Open ↗(1) The Armed Forces Council with the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may make regulations including regulations providing for matters which may be issued by Perintah Majlis Angkatan Tentera (hereinafter referred to as “Pay and Allowances Regulations”) governing the pay, allowances and other emoluments of officers and servicemen of the regular forces and other matters pertaining thereto and in particular governing the following provisions of this Part.
(2) Notwithstanding the appointment of the date for the coming into force of this Act pursuant to section 1 or the provisions of any written law to the contrary, any regulations made under subsection (1) may be given retrospective effect to any date, whether before or after the coming into force of this Act.
(3) Notwithstanding the appointment of the date for the coming into force of this Act pursuant to section 1 or the provisions of any written law to the contrary, the Armed Forces Council with the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong may amend any of the rules, regulations, orders and other instruments made under the enactment and ordinances repealed by subsection 217(1) where such subsidiary legislation is still in force by virtue of subsection (2) of that section and any amendment made hereunder to such subsidiary legislation still in force may be given retrospective effect to any date, whether before or after the coming into force of this Act.
Forfeitures and deductions: general provisions
Open ↗(1) No forfeiture of the pay of an officer or serviceman shall be imposed unless authorized by this Act or some other Act and no deduction from such pay shall be made unless so authorized or authorized by Pay and Allowances Regulations.
(2) Pay and Allowances Regulations shall not authorize the making of any penal deduction, that is to say, a deduction to be made by reason of the commission of any offence or other wrongful act or in consequence of any negligence.
(3) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not prevent the making of Pay and Allowances Regulations providing for the imposition of any forfeiture authorized by this Act or the making of any deduction so authorized or for the time at which and the manner in which sums may be deducted from pay to give effect to authorized deductions or the manner in which amounts may be so deducted in order to recover any fine imposed in pursuance of this Act, or as to the appropriation of any such sum or amount when deducted, or of providing for the determination of questions relating to forfeitures or deductions.
(4) Notwithstanding any deduction from the pay of an officer or serviceman, he shall (subject to any forfeiture) remain in receipt of pay at not less than such minimum rate as may be prescribed by or under Pay and Allowances Regulations.
(5) Notwithstanding that forfeiture of pay of an officer or serviceman for any period has been ordered in pursuance of this Act, he shall remain in receipt of pay at such minimum rate as aforesaid but the amount received for that period may be recovered from him by deduction from pay.
(6) Any amount authorized to be deducted from the pay of an officer or serviceman may be deducted from any balance (whether or not representing pay) which may be due to him as an officer or serviceman, and references in this Act to the making of deductions from pay shall be construed accordingly, and the whole or any part of any sum forfeited from an offender’s pay may be recovered by deduction from any such balance.
Forfeiture for absence from duty
Open ↗(1) The pay of an officer or serviceman may be forfeited—
(a) for any day of absence in such circumstances as to constitute an offence under section 54 or 55 or, if the competent authority so directs, of other absence without leave;
(b) for any day of imprisonment, detention or field punishment awarded under this Act by a court-martial or commanding officer, or of imprisonment or detention of any description to which he is liable in consequence of an order or sentence of a civil court;
(c) where he is found guilty (whether by court-martial, an appropriate superior authority or his commanding officer) of an offence under this Act, for any day (whether before or after he is found guilty) on which he is in hospital on account of sickness or injury certified by the proper medical officer to have been occasioned by the offence.
(2) The pay of an officer or serviceman may be forfeited for any day of absence by reason of his having been made a prisoner of war if the competent authority is satisfied—
(a) that he was made a prisoner of war through disobedience of orders or wilful neglect of his duty;
(b) that having been made a prisoner of war he failed to take any reasonable steps available to him to rejoin His Majesty’s service; or
(c) that having been made a prisoner of war he served with or aided the enemy in the prosecution of hostilities or of measures calculated to influence morale, or in any other manner whatsoever not authorized by international usage,
but save as aforesaid, nothing in paragraph (1)(a) shall apply to absence by reason of having been made a prisoner of war.
(3) Pay and Allowances Regulations may make provision as to the computation of time for the purposes of this section and in particular as to the counting or disregarding of parts of days.
Deductions for payment of civil penalties
Open ↗Where a person sentenced or ordered by a civil court (whether within or without Malaysia) to pay a sum by way of fine, penalty, damages, compensation or costs in consequences of being charged before the civil court with an offence is at the time of the sentence or order, or subsequently becomes, a member of the regular forces, then, if the whole or any part of that sum is met by a payment made by or on behalf of any service authority, the amount of the payment may be deducted from his pay.
Compensation for loss occasioned by wrongful acts or negligence
Open ↗(1) Without prejudice to the provision of this Act as to the imposition of stoppages as a punishment, the following provisions shall have effect where after an inquiry by a board of inquiry in accordance with the Board of Inquiry Rules it appears to the competent authority that any officer or serviceman—
(a) has caused any loss of, or damage to, service or public property;
(b) has failed to collect any moneys owing to the Federal Government of which he is or was responsible;
(c) is or was responsible for any improper payment of public moneys of the Federal Government or for any payment of public moneys which is not duly vouched;
(d) is or was responsible for any deficiency in, or for the destruction of, any public moneys, stamps, securities, stores or other property of the Federal Government;
(e) being or having been an accounting officer, fails or has failed to keep proper accounts or records;
(f) has failed to make any payment, or is or was responsible for any delay in the payment, of public moneys of the
Federal Government to any person to whom such payment is due under any law or under any lawful contract, agreement or arrangement entered into with that person,
and the aforesaid has been occasioned by any wrongful act or negligence of an officer or serviceman of the regular forces (hereinafter referred to as the “person responsible”).
(2) The competent authority shall require the person responsible to furnish an explanation on the wrongful act or negligence that has been occasioned and if a satisfactory explanation is not furnished within a period specified by the competent authority, the competent authority may order the person responsible (whether or not he is a member of the regular forces at the time when the order is made) to pay, as or towards compensation, a sum not exceeding the amount of any loss or damage to service or public property, or any such amount not collected, or any such payment, deficiency or loss or the value of the property destroyed, as the case may be; and with regard to the failure to keep proper accounts or records, or the failure to make payment, or the delay in making payment, the competent authority may order the person responsible to pay such sum as the competent authority may think fit.
(3) The competent authority shall cause the commanding officer or the head of department of the person responsible to be notified of any order or any decision made under subsection (2), and the commanding officer or the head of department shall thereupon notify the person responsible of any such order or decision.
(4) Any amount ordered to be paid under this section shall be a debt due to the Government from the person responsible against whom the order is made and the amount may be sued for and recovered in any court at the suit of the Government and may also, if the competent authority directs, be recovered by deduction—
(a) from the pay of the person responsible; or
(b) from the pension of the person responsible,
by equal monthly instalments not exceeding one-fourth of the total monthly pay or pension, as the case may be, of the person responsible.
(5) No order shall be made under subsection (4) if, in proceedings under this Act before a court-martial, an appropriate superior authority or a commanding officer, the person responsible—
(a) has been acquitted in circumstances involving a finding that he was not guilty of the wrongful act or negligence in question; or
(b) has been awarded stoppages in respect of the same loss or damage,
but save as aforesaid, the fact that any such proceedings have been brought in respect of the wrongful act or negligence in question shall not prevent the making of an order or deductions under subsection (4).
(6) For the purpose of this section—
“accounting officer” includes every officer or serviceman who is charged with the duty of collecting, receiving, or accounting for, or who in fact collects, receives or accounts for, any public moneys, or who is charged with the duty of disbursing, or who does in fact disburse, any public moneys, and every officer or serviceman who is charged with the receipt, custody or disposal of, or the accounting for, public stores or who in fact receives, holds or disposes of public stores;
“public moneys” means all revenue, loan, trust and other moneys and all bonds, debentures, and other securities raised or received by or on account of the Federal Government.
Deductions for barrack damage
Open ↗(1) Where damage occurs in which one or more units of the regular forces or parts of such units are quartered or billeted, or any fixtures, furniture or effects in or belonging to such premises are damaged or lost, then if it appears, on investigation in accordance with
Pay and Allowances Regulations, that the damage or loss was occasioned by the wrongful act or negligence of persons belonging to any of the units or parts of units in occupation of the premises and was so occasioned at a time when they were in occupation thereof, but that the said persons cannot be identified, any person belonging to any of the said units or parts of units may be required to contribute towards compensation for the damage or loss such amount as may in accordance with the aforesaid regulations be determined to be just, and the amount may be deducted from his pay.
(2) The foregoing subsection shall extend to ships, trains and aircraft in which units or parts of the regular forces are being transported, and references to premises, quartering and occupation shall be construed accordingly.
Remission of forfeitures and deductions
Open ↗Any forfeiture or deduction imposed under the four last foregoing sections or under Pay and Allowances Regulations may be remitted by the Armed Forces Council or in such manner and by such form as may be provided by such regulations.
Enforcement of maintenance and affiliation orders by deduction from pay
Open ↗(1) Where any civil court in Malaysia has made an order against any person (hereinafter referred to as “the defendant”) for the payment of any periodical or other sum specified in the order for or in respect of—
(a) the maintenance of his wife or child;
(b) any costs incurred in obtaining the order; or
(c) any costs incurred in proceedings of appeal against, or for the variation, revocation or revival of, any such order,
and the defendant is an officer or serviceman of the regular forces, then (whether or not he was a member of those forces when the order was made) the competent authority may order such sum to be deducted from the pay of the defendant and appropriated in or towards satisfaction of the payment due under the order of the court as the competent authority thinks fit.
(2) Where to the knowledge of the civil court making any such order as aforesaid, or an order revoking or reviving any such order, the defendant is an officer or serviceman of the regular forces, the civil court shall send a copy of the order to the competent authority.
(3) The competent authority may vary or revoke any order previously made under this section, and may treat any order made under this section as being in suspense at any time while the person against whom the order was made is absent as mentioned in paragraph 159(1)(a).
(4) In this section—
references to an order made by a civil court in Malaysia include references to an order registered in or confirmed by such a civil court under the provisions of the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act 1949 [Act 34];
references to a wife or child include, in relation to an order made in proceedings in connection with the dissolution or annulment of a marriage, references to a person who would have been the wife or child of the defendant if the marriage had subsisted;
references to a child of a person include references to a child of his wife, and to an illegitimate or adopted child of that person or of his wife, and in this paragraph “adopted child” means a child adopted (whether alone or jointly) in accordance with the provisions of any written law relating to the adoption of children for the time being in force in Malaysia or any part thereof and includes a child whose adoption has been registered in accordance with the provisions of any written law relating to the registration of adoptions for the time being in force in Malaysia.
Deductions from pay for maintenance of wife or child
Open ↗(1) Where the competent authority is satisfied that an officer or serviceman is neglecting, without reasonable cause, to maintain his wife or any child of his under the age of seventeen years, the competent authority may order such sums to be deducted from his pay and appropriated towards the maintenance of his wife or child as the competent authority thinks fit.
(2) On an application made to the competent authority for an order under the foregoing subsection the competent authority, if satisfied that a prima facie case has been made out for the making of such an order, may make an interim order for such deduction and appropriation as is mentioned in the foregoing subsection to take effect pending the further examination of the case.
(3) Where an order under subsection 164(1) is in force for the making of deductions in favour of any person from the pay of an officer or serviceman of the regular forces, no deduction from his pay in favour of the same person shall be ordered under the foregoing provisions of this section unless the officer or serviceman is in a place where process cannot be served on him in connection with proceedings for the variation of the order of the civil court in consequence of which the order under subsection 164(1) was made.
(4) The competent authority may vary or revoke any order previously made under this section, and may treat any order made under this section as being in suspense at any time while the person against whom the order was made is absent as mentioned in paragraph 159(1)(a).
(5) The power to make an order under this section for the deduction of any sum and its appropriation towards the maintenance of a child shall include power—
(a) subject to subsection (3), to make such an order after the child has reached the age of seventeen years, if an order in favour of the child under subsection 164(1) is in force;
(b) to make such an order after the child has attained the age of seventeen years if—
(i) such an order as is mentioned in subsection 164(1) was in force in favour of the child at the time when the child attained that age;
(ii) the person from whose pay the deductions are ordered is in such a place as is mentioned in subsection (3); and
(iii) the child is for the time being engaged in a course of education or training; or
(c) to continue such an order from time to time after the child has attained the age of seventeen years, if the child is for the time being engaged in a course of education or training,
but no order so made or continued shall remain in force after the child attains the age of twenty-one years or shall, unless continued under paragraph (c), remain in force for more than two years.
Limit of deductions under sections 164 and 165 and effect of forfeiture
Open ↗(1) The sums deducted under the two last foregoing sections shall not together exceed—
(a) in the case of an officer, three-sevenths of his pay;
(b) in the case of a serviceman not below the rank of sergeant or its equivalent, two-thirds of his pay;
(c) in the case of any other serviceman, three-quarters of his pay.
(2) Where any deductions have been ordered in either of the two last foregoing sections from a person’s pay and (whether before or after the deductions have been ordered) he incurs a forfeiture of pay by or in consequence of the finding or sentence of a court-martial or the
finding or award of the appropriate superior authority or his commanding officer, it shall apply only to so much of his pay as remains after the deductions have been made.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) and (c) a person having acting rank shall be treated as of that rank.
Service of process in maintenance proceedings
Open ↗(1) Any process to be served on an officer or serviceman of the regular forces (hereinafter referred to as “the defendant”) in connection with proceedings for any such order of a civil court in Malaysia as is mentioned in subsection 164(1), or for the variation, revocation or revival of such an order, shall be deemed to be duly served on him if served either on him or his commanding officer and may, without prejudice to any other method of service, be so served by registered post.
(2) Where any such process as is mentioned in subsection (1) is served in Malaysia and the defendant will be required to appear in person at the hearing, then if his commanding officer certifies to the civil court by which the process was issued that the defendant is under orders for active service or (where the defendant is an officer or rating of the Navy) is under orders for service on a foreign station (that is to say, service based on a port outside Malaysia) and that in the commanding officer’s opinion it would not be possible for the defendant to attend the hearing and return in time to embark for that service, the service of the process shall be deemed not to have been effected.
Source: Laws of Malaysia, Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia (lom.agc.gov.my). Not a copy of the Gazette printed by the Government Printer (Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967, s 61).
