The parliamentary select committee on the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code will push through the proposed amendments to the codes in the current Parliament session despite the disagreement from several quarters.

"It will be debated in this session because that is the time frame given to us," committee head Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, who is also home minister, told reporters in Parliament today.

Radzi, who was the former de facto law minister, heads the bi-partisan committee which recently furnished its recommendations on the two legislation after a two-year review.

On the disagreement over the proposed amendments, he said no changes will be made at the moment. He also described the disagreements as "comments, not objections".

The bills are expected to be debated next week. The session is scheduled to end on July 13.

However, there are seven other bills tabled later than the amendments to the Penal Code and Procedure Criminal Code slated to be debated before the two.

This has since triggered speculation whether the two bills would be passed without a hitch.

Calls for review

Among others, the Bar Council has asked for a review of one of the definitions under the category of 'aggravated rape' proposed by the select committee.

The legal profession body felt that the definition in the clause which penalises a rape committed by a person in a position of authority or professional relationship is too wide.

The council is of the view that it could be abused by women to 'fix up' their former boyfriends who refuse to marry them or even be used to blackmail them.

This comment later elicited criticism from women groups, who termed it as 'chauvinistic'.

It is also said that some Muslim lawyers have opposed to another clause which punishes husbands causing hurt or threatening their wives with death in order to have sexual intercourse.

The new provision was recommended by the select committee as a compromise to the women's groups' request to incorporate 'marital rape' as an offence.

In another development, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said 288 police personnel were being investigated by the Anti Corruption Agency (ACA).

This includes 40 senior officers while the rest are junior officers, said Abdullah, who is also internal security minister, in a written reply to Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) today.

He said up to May this year, 69 police personnel were being investigated by the ACA while last year, 56 were investigated. In 2004, 78 were under investigation.