Rakyat must have last say on abolition of mandatory death penalty

Rakyat must have last say on abolition of mandatory death penalty



From Azalina Othman

Multiple developments have occurred in regard to the abolition of the mandatory death penalty over the last few days and the government has made a commitment to abolish it.

And in its most recent statement, it said there will be an announcement tomorrow (June 13) on the future of the 2,000-odd convicts who are on death row.

This has caused disquiet among many quarters and many uncertainties abound after these two consecutive developments.

The government’s announcements are certainly welcome, but these are only the first of many steps it is taking to move forward.

The government may impose a moratorium to halt the carrying out of any execution while a more detailed study is carried out before amending certain laws as the death penalty is entrenched in the Penal Code, Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 and Armed Forces Act, among others.

Many questions have to be addressed incrementally, accounting for not just the views and sentiments of members of the Cabinet, but the lawmakers in Parliament, too. What this entails is that the government will have to table Bills in Parliament to amend the laws.

MPs who represent the voters, would have to be consulted and the Bills debated upon because the imposition of the death penalty carries an element of irreversible finality to it. So the principles and merits of the Bill must be deeply scrutinised.

This is over and above the fact that attitudes towards death penalty vary across demographic lines, with many still holding on to the opinion that the death sentence ought to be still retained for the most heinous of crimes.

Perhaps we may take a cue from the drafting of the Anti-Hopping Law, where a parliamentary special select committee (PSSC) was established to scrutinise all the existing laws which carry the mandatory death penalty.

This will thus take into account the views of MPs across party lines, experts and, of course, the victims and next of kin who have suffered from the crimes committed which at present carry the mandatory death penalty.

The PSSC will be able to fast-track the process for law reform by providing a platform for legal discourse and debates via a multi-party committee of MPs, relevant NGOs and stakeholders.

This will help restore the public’s faith in a system that is transparent and inclusive.

As a backbencher, I have witnessed the present Keluarga Malaysia government demonstrating political will to embark on many overdue law reform efforts, which I applaud.

However, with the present discourse on the abolition of mandatory death penalty, many of us are left in the dark on the depth and breadth of the potential change in policy and law here.

We are left to speculate on many fronts, which inhibit MPs like myself from contributing constructively to the debate here. The report that former chief justice Richard Malanjum prepared, but which was not made public, creates more questions among MPs and the rakyat to understand the justifications of the study.

All that we have now are news headlines and brief government announcements, which are open to speculation. The final say should rest in the hands of the rakyat through their MPs.


Azalina Othman Said is Pengerang MP and an FMT reader.

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kt comments:

Much as I admire Azalina's letter, I have to disagree on a few points:

(a) Reforms (such as abolishing in toto the death penalty) should not be left to the rakyat. Radical reforms require strong courageous leadership - though I'm supportive that parliament can vote on it, but not a referendum.

(b) Thus the decision of such a reform must never be dependent upon the preferences of "the victims and next of kin" as they are 'parties of interest' and naturally/inevitably will be emotionally affected by the choices.

(c) There is a fallacy among many in the rakyat that "abolishing the death penalty" means the convict will walk free - Nothing could be further from the truth. The guilty will be incarcerated.

The second fallacy is that "death penalty commuted to a life sentence" will limit the incarceration to only 20 years, as would be the general cases in countries like Britain, Australia, NZ etc. No, life imprisonment under the Malaysian Penal Code may be of different lengths as befits the severity of the crimes in the judgement of the courts, and our parliament can legislate for such, and may include sentences such as "for the rest of his/her natural life, wit no parole" for the truly heinous crimes.

(d) When we talk about heinous crimes, we must never ever forget that the death penalty or in plain words, sanctioned execution of a living human being (cold blooded murder by the state hiding under the guise of legality) is the most heinous act in a civilised society.