The hearing was scheduled to be started at 10:00 a.m, but it was delayed for more than four hours to 2:30 p.m. The judges announced they are studying some new material, so the hearing had been adjourned to Wednesday morning, November 13.
Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA) - A rape case hearing of the Perak lawmaker who had allegedly raped an Indonesian migrant worker was delayed by the Perak state court, Malaysia, Monday, as the judges needed time to study some new material. The private hearing, which was scheduled for today, aimed to hear testimonies from the victim, the 23-year-old migrant worker whose home is in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. She filed a lawsuit against the Perak lawmaker Paul Yong accusing him of raping her.

"The hearing was scheduled to be started at 10:00 a.m, but it was delayed for more than four hours to 2:30 p.m. The judges announced they are studying some new material, so the hearing had been adjourned to Wednesday morning, November 13," Indonesian nationals protection chief Yusron B Ambary of the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia's task force, said in the court.

During the trials, the plaintiff is under the protection of the Malaysian prosecutor’s office, he said. However, at the first and second trials, the migrant worker had stayed at the embassy's protection shelter.

At the private hearing, the migrant worker with initials AW, was assisted by her mother and the embassy's secretary consular I Shabda Thian, the consular staff Galuh Indriyati Banjarmas, and two lawyers of the Gooi and Azura Public Attorney Office, Silvi and Azurra.

"The main agenda of the next hearing, is AW testifying to the jury. The hearing will be closed for the public, and the judges will carefully select which persons will be allowed into the courtroom," Ambary expounded.

Meanwhile, the alleged rapist, lawmaker Paul Yong Choo Kiong arrived in court this morning, and he was assisted by a woman and an aide. During the hearing, few supporters of Yong stood outside the court, while holding a fabric sheet with messages of "Long Live Paul Yong" and "Who is Black Hand?" Yong waved at his supporters and greeted them.

On July this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail reaffirmed that the Malaysian authority was committed to working on the alleged rape case. “So there is no issue of neglect because after she lodged the police report, the police took immediate action. The assemblyman was released on bail but the maid is in the authorities’ care,” Dr. Wan Azizah was quoted as saying by Petaling Jaya-based news portal, Malay Mail.

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Translator: Agus S/Genta Tenri Mawangi
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
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