KUALA LUMPUR — An Indonesian national has become the first person to be charged and sentenced to a fine and community service for littering in public under the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007.
Anita Lukman, 49, was charged at the Johor Bahru Sessions Court this morning, where she pleaded guilty to throwing a cigarette butt and a drink bottle onto a pavement at Jalan Ibrahim Sultan in Stulang Laut on January 1, the same day the Act came into force.
The odd-job worker and single mother pleaded guilty to throwing a cigarette butt and a drink bottle onto the pavement, not into the designated bin for solid waste.
Sessions Court judge Nor Aziati Jaafar ordered Anita to pay a fine of RM500, in default of 15 days’ imprisonment, and to serve six hours of community service.
She must fulfil the community service order within six months of the sentence, up to two hours a day. Failure to do so will see her fined a further RM2,000 to RM10,000 more.
Anita, who was unrepresented, asked for a lighter sentence as she had to care for two children aged eight and 15.
Meanwhile, another foreign national, Bangladeshi Sultan Md, 28, was also charged with public littering under the same Act at the same court, but he did not understand the charge and requested a translator.
The court set January 28 for his next case mention with the assistance of a translator.
Under the Act, offenders may be fined between RM2,000 and RM10,000, and the court may also impose a community service order of up to six months, involving work not exceeding 12 hours in total. – January 23, 2026