Malaysia has passed a law that will force criminal suspects to provide DNA samples, despite opposition complaints that the bill was aimed at legitimizing evidence in the sodomy trial of their leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Under the act, which parliament passed today with a simple majority, courts can compel suspects to provide non-intimate DNA samples such as hair and saliva, said Sivarasa Rasiah, an opposition parliamentarian. The provision of intimate samples such as semen or blood will not be mandatory.
Sivarasa said the DNA will be admissible in court as evidence, but not necessarily deemed to be conclusive. Before the law was passed, suspects could only be asked to give DNA voluntarily.
Read more in Otago Daily Times.