Malaysia has had a national animal welfare law since 1953, though it was criticized for being weak and under-enforced.
[2] Animal protection efforts in Malaysia appear to be exclusively welfare-driven rather than rights-driven.
Under the AA, a person commits an offense of animal cruelty if they “cruelly beats, kicks, ill-treats, overrides, overdrives, overloads, tortures, infuriates or terrifies any animal."
The Malaysian Penal Code distinguishes between animals worth at least RM5, and those worth at least RM25; penalties for cruelty against the latter group are heavier, indicating the protection of animals as property as one of the goals of Malaysian anti-cruelty statutes.
According to SEE (2013), "These cases more or less sum up the history of animal cruelty prosecution in Malaysia.