Malaysia — Legal Help

If detained, request consular access immediately — your embassy (KL is a major diplomatic hub) can provide English-speaking lawyer lists but cannot pay bail or intervene in prosecutions. Age of consent is 16 under the Penal Code, but sex outside marriage (khalwat) is prosecutable under state Syariah law for Muslim citizens; foreigners are generally handled under civil law. Sex work is not itself criminalised but soliciting, procuring and brothel-keeping are offences under the Penal Code and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007.

Drug laws are among the world's strictest: the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 imposes mandatory long sentences and, historically, capital punishment for trafficking — abolished as mandatory in 2023 but still discretionary. Same-sex conduct remains criminalised under Section 377.