KUALA LUMPUR – Several human rights advocate groups have lauded the government’s move to abolish the mandatory death penalty, calling it a step towards much-needed reforms.
In a statement today, the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network said it is timely that the country moves away from “absurd sentences” that ultimately do not provide justice to the parties involved.
“The mandatory death penalty regime does not provide justice as it deprives judges of the discretion to sentence based on the situation of each individual offender.
“This regime has resulted in absurd sentences that have led to public outcries, such as those involving Hairun Jalmani, a single mother sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Tawau, and Mainthan Arumugam, a person on death row for a murder that never happened.”
It added that other reforms are needed to empower a more rehabilitative justice system.
“In addition to abolishing the mandatory death penalty, critical reform, including but not limited to mental health and criminal culpability, redefining drug offences to account for drug mules and other exploited individuals within the drug trade, and strengthening rehabilitative justice and victim support system needs to be considered.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International Malaysia also lauded the move, calling it “a welcomed step in the right direction” to fully abolishing the death penalty in the country.
“We have seen and documented time and time again how the use of mandatory sentencing has disproportionately harmed the most marginalised and disenfranchised members of society, how the death penalty itself has not served as a unique deterrent to crime, and how its continued use has stifled the necessary and visionary work towards enabling fair justice and addressing issues at the root cause.
“The death penalty is also cruel, inhumane and a violation of the right to life. But today’s announcement by the government shows that human rights change is possible, and that the global trend toward abolition remains unstoppable. Malaysia’s decision should also set an example for other countries in the region,” said its executive director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv.
Similarly, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) said while the death penalty continues to exist in Malaysia, this abolishment will empower the judge with the discretion to mete out alternative sentencing.
“We also welcome that the cabinet agreed on the abolishment after the law minister had presented a report on alternative sentencing as Suaram has always advocated that the application of alternative sentencing is far superior to the death penalty as the latter betrays the principle of human rights and also seen as cruel, inhumane, and degrading under international law,” said the group in a statement today. – The Vibes, June 10, 2022
