Admissibility Of Electronic Evidence In Malaysia

10.2478/bjlp-2022-007098

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the legal framework for the admissibility of electronic evidence and to identify the issues relating to computer or electronic evidence and its application in Malaysian courts. Enactments of new legislation to accommodate cyber-crime cases and amendment to section 90A, 90B and 90C of Evidence Act 1950 provided for the admissibility of computer-generated documents. This raises the question on the admissibility as evidence of a computer-generated documents in court. Another issue with computer-generated evidence is that it can be easily altered without leaving any glaring trace of its alteration. Hence, rules for admissibility and the probative or prejudicial value to be attached to such evidence need to be addressed. The method of study conducted is a pure legal study which is categorized as doctrinal research. This doctrinal research use a qualitative approach that involved the use of several integrated approaches. There are references made on primary and secondary evidence and among the approaches used in this study are critical analysis and content analysis. At the end of this paper, there are discussions and comparison from other jurisdictions in order to improve the position of computer-generated evidence and its application in Malaysia.