Abolishing capital punishment - Malaysia must not falter

MM Online - Do away with the death penalty already, please:

COMMENTARY by Editor Joan Lau, Nov 14 — Among the many things that have happened since May 9, one made me particularly happy: The government’s announcement in October that the death penalty will be abolished.

I don’t remember when it happened, when I first realised that I was against capital punishment.

Maybe it was when I first found out that prisoners spend many years on Death Row before they are finally executed. Or maybe it was when I read about how innocent people are not only jailed but sometimes executed.

So, yes, I was super proud of us as a country when it was announced we would be doing away with the death penalty.

In 2017, Guinea and Mongolia did away with the death penalty for all crimes. Now is our turn.

Since then I have watched in dismay as the government walked back on this decision. Yesterday, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong announced that the Cabinet has decided the death penalty for 33 offences will be abolished.

Not a blanket abolition but one that has limits. Why?

Some observers say it is because some crimes are so heinous, only the death penalty will do. Others mention that the families of those murdered need to see justice done.

Even lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh who once advocated for the abolition changed his mind after the recent brutal death of a nine-month-old baby.

But the idea behind the abolition of the death penalty is not that complex really: All lives are sacred and the taking of a life — for whatever reason — simply cannot be justified.
There is no data to show that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than, say... a jail term.

This circle of violence must be broken.

I commend the government for wishing to get public feedback on this issue but they got it right the first time. Abolish the death penalty.

“All executions violate the right to life. Those carried out publicly are a gross affront to human dignity which cannot be tolerated,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Killing someone because he/she killed someone is not right.

We must be better.

Editor Joan Lau is absolutely correct. Abolishing capital punishment for only 32 or 33 offences means Malaysia STILL has the death penalty. The abolishing must be complete and not partial - one is pregnant or not pregnant and cannot be half pregnant.

Yes, some crimes are truly heinous like the recent rape and murder of a young toddler. But that person, only if found guilty by the civil court, can be locked up "for the rest of his natural life", meaning he will die in prison. 30 years for him, if found guilty, will not be enough for such a horrible crime.

Thus, the earlier suggestion that those who have been sentenced to death be given 30 years is not a suitable substitution of punishment. There cannot be "one size fits all" penalty.

One example has been the crime of raping and murdering a toddler - 30 years will NOT be enough.

Another example at the other extreme end of murder crimes could be a person who inadvertently kills someone in a fight at, say, a kopitiam in what started as a non-cold blooded but passionate stoush (quarrel), should NOT be jailed for 30 years. That person can be rehabilitated and if successful, released in 20 years (or with official remission, even less).

Thus abolish capital punishment TOTALLY but allow the civil courts to decide on a range of punishments ranging from a minimum of, say 20 years, to "for the rest of the criminal's natural life".  

I can understand why Ramkarpal has second thoughts on abolishing capital punishment as the recent rape and murder of a baby was just too horrid, horrendous and heinous to contemplate. Calling that alleged perpetrator a 'beast' would be to insult the animals.

But as I wrote in an earlier post Death sentence - Justice or Revenge the following (extracts only):

Naturally people whose love ones had suffered at the hands of evil killers, murderers, drug traffickers or terrorists want to see the caught criminals receive the ultimate punishment. I can understand their wish but they are NOT the best people to ask for advice on capital punishment, given their emotional state of mind.

National (political, social, religious, legal, etc) leaders are the ones to make a sound national decision on whether Malaysia should continue to have such a draconian punishment.

But coincidentally, Ramkarpal's late father, my hero, the late Karpal Singh, an advocate for abolishing capital punishment, once in 2010 also confused us by demanding the death penalty for child rapist, following a shocking case where an Indian school bus driver with numerous children on board the bus, stopped by the roadside a la ta'boleh tahan lagi to sexually assault one of his lil’ passengers.

As I posted, I did wonder whether the late Karpal had overreacted because the driver was an Indian who had cast shame on the entire Indian community for his insane criminal act? But thank goodness after that, I had never heard my (late) hero made another bizarre irresponsible call for the death penalty.

karpal's momentray lapse in his advocacy would be what the ancient (pre-Jesus) Roman poet-lyricist-soldier-senator Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known to the English-speaking World as as Horace would say: Indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus (I am displeased when sometimes even the worthy Homer nods) or Anglicised and popularised as 'Sometimes even Homer nodded', ie. 'No one is perfect: even the wisest make mistakes'.

Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner

Yes, Horace's immortal saying means 'Not even the most vigilant and expert are immune to error'. Thus I made that explanation (or excuse) for my late hero Karpal. 

Nonetheless, I have to admit at that time my esteem for him was severely shaken. Thus it's a sort of déjà vu to see-hear Ramkarpal stating his second thoughts on abolishing capital punishment completely. It's like hearing Karpal say that again.

Emperor Xuanzong (685 to 782 CE) 

It may surprise many of us that once during the Tang Dynasty, specifically during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (7th Emperor of Tang Dynasty), only the emperor could sentence a convict to death. This initially resulted in a low number of executions throughout the empire, with only 24 executions in 730 and 58 executions in 736.

But in the year 747, the emperor abolished the death penalty altogether. Yes, the death penalty was actually abolished in China about 1400 years ago.

Alas, after his reign was toppled by the An Lushan rebellion, the death penalty was brought back.

I urge the Malaysian government not to be swayed by pockets of understandable emotion protesting against abolishing capital punishment. The national and social leadership must push for and attain civilised moral and humane conduct in our legal justice system.

The Western World (except for the USA and Eastern Europe) has abolished the death penalty and even Cambodia (1989), East Timor (1999) and Mongolia in Asia have joined them. 

The death penalty was also abandoned in the Philippines in 2006, but rumours have it President Duterte may want it back. The last known executions in the Buddhist countries Laos and Myamnar were in 1989, whilst Thailand, also a Buddhist nation, has a high rate of clemency, which amounts to 'de facto' abolition – its last reported execution was in 2009.

We must not lag behind these nations in the advancement of our humanity.