KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Putrajaya today retracted two contentious clauses under its proposed amendments to the Penal Code, but plan to bring back the clauses after some amendments.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri said they have retracted clause five, which deals with “destruction” of national emblems, and clause 33 which deals with vandalism of public property.

“We feel that the flag should fall under a different law, the National Harmony Act,” she told reporters when door-stopped at the Parliament lobby here.

Nancy, however, noted that Clause 33 would be reintroduced into the Penal Code amendments after they reword it to reflect the seriousness of the issue, especially in relation to gang activities instead of issues such as grafitti.

She said the government thinks that Clause 33 should still be part of the proposed amendments to the Penal Code as their intention is to deal with issues beyond misdemeanours that are already covered by local authority by-laws.

“Even though we still feel that it should be in there, we need to reword it. Vandalism sounds so minor which can be covered by the by-law.

“We are not talking about vandalism per se. We are talking about more serious crimes... 08, 04 may just be figures to use but serious in terms of reflecting serious crimes, the kingpins, gangsterism,” she said, referring to gang symbols used by organised crime syndicates.

Prior to the retraction, the Bill had meant to include the “destruction” of any item considered a national emblem as a criminal offence that would carry a punishment of not less than five years and not more than 15 years in jail, and possibly a fine.

The new clause would also impose a similar penalty on anyone who is found to be promoting the use of a flag to purportedly represent Malaysia other than the flag that is officially recognised by the authorities to represent the country or any state within the nation.

The new vandalism clause meanwhile would impose a penalty of up to three years jail if found guilty of defacing public property in any way, ranging from scribbling to spraying to putting up posters and flags.

The clause also extends to such acts committed on private property without prior consent.