KUALA LUMPUR: A top Malaysia court on Monday sentenced a 22-year-old man to five years in jail for having sex with a 12-year-old girl in the northern state of Penang. Malaysia women's activists told Bikyamasr.com that they were pleased with the ruling, but hoped others, including high-profile criminals who have been let off recently, “would also face the inside of jail cell for rape.” Chuah Guan Jiu was convicted and has been ordered sent to prison for two charges of statutory rape, court officials told Bikyamasr.com on Monday. It followed outrage over an earlier court ruling that set him free on probation. His lawyer was quoted as saying he would appeal the ruling. In August, a lower court had allowed the 22-year-old electrician to go free even though it had found the man guilty of having sex with the young girl in July 2011. That court said it was taking into account the young man's future situation when it ruled to allow him freed, basing it on his first-time offense. His lawyer was quoted to have argued the sex was “purely consensual" and that his client was not educated on the law, having dropped out of school at 14. Rape, and statutory rape, has become a tenuous issue in Malaysia in recent months, after prominent national bowler Noor Afizal Azizan, 21, was also freed on probation after having sex with a 13-year-old in 2009. He was initially sentenced to five-years in jail, but on appeal a court ruled that he could go free based on his future. “That ruling is horrendous and we are all frustrated by the lack of standards that courts are giving when women are raped,” said activist Yussifa Azza.
