KUALA LUMPUR (UCAN): Malaysia will abolish the mandatory death penalty and replace it with other types of punishment for several offences, according to Malaysia’s minister of Law, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Channel News Asia reported on September 14.
Jaafar said that the decision was made after a series of meetings held on September 6 and 13, with the Substitute Sentences for the Mandatory Death Penalty Task Force Technical Committee and key members of government agencies. It was agreed to substitute the sentences for 11 offences that carry the mandatory death penalty.
The minister also announced a moratorium for 1,337 death row inmates in Malaysia.
“I remain committed to fighting for fairer and compassionate laws on the issue of whipping and the death penalty,” the minister stated in a Facebook post.
The recommendations of the Technical Committee will be submitted to a cabinet meeting and then presented in parliament this September.
Representatives of the Malaysian Prison Department, Ministry of Home Affairs, Royal Malaysia Police, and representatives from various agencies attended the meeting
In June, the Malaysian government initiated the process to abolish the mandatory death penalty, which was a long-standing demand from activists. The move was hailed across the globe.
Amnesty International Malaysia’s executive director, Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, hailed the move as “a welcome step in the right direction, and we urge [the government] to go further and work towards full abolition of this cruel punishment,” AFP reported in June.
In Malaysia crimes punishable by death include drug trafficking, terrorism, murder, rape resulting in death, kidnapping, and the possession of firearms wherein the judge does not have the option to give any alternate or lesser punishments.
The Church in Malaysia has vehemently opposed capital punishment and is vocal in supporting its removal from the justice system.
Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture [MADPET] is an abolitionist campaign supported by people from all levels of society including Christians.
In October 2018, Charles Hector, a member of MADPET voiced his support for the then government’s move to end capital punishment.
Hector said that they were “waiting for the day when we can celebrate the abolition of the death penalty, and death row will disappear in Malaysia,” Fides reported.
Malaysia carried out its last execution in 2018 and then imposed a moratorium.
