Malaysia intends to abolish mandatory death penalty

• For a number of crimes, the death penalty remains required.
• In 2018, the reformist alliance announced that the death penalty would be abolished.
• While campaigners are ecstatic by the news, they are equally cautious.

Malaysia’s government said on Friday that it has agreed to abolish the mandatory death sentence, a step that campaigners applauded but cautioned that the country has failed to follow through on past promises to enhance human rights.

Although a moratorium on executions has been in place since 2018, the death sentence remains required in the Southeast Asian nation for a number of crimes, including murder and drug trafficking.

That year, a reformist alliance came to power and announced that it would abolish capital punishment totally, but the proposal was stymied by political opponents and the relatives of murder victims.

Since then, a watered-down proposal has been floated, with the death sentence being abolished solely in circumstances when it is obligatory.

The Cabinet has resolved to abolish mandatory capital penalty, according to Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He indicated that more research would be done to see what sentences may be used instead of the death penalty.

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“The government’s objective in this situation is to ensure that all parties’ rights are respected and guaranteed,” he said in a statement.

Aside from crimes for which capital punishment is mandatory, there are a number of others for which the death penalty can be imposed at the discretion of the court.

To implement the modifications, the legislation must be adopted in parliament, and Wan Junaidi told AFP it would “take a little bit,” without specifying a timeline.

“It’s not as straightforward as people think,” says the author.

“Malaysia’s public announcement that it will abolish the mandatory death penalty is a significant step forward,” Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director, told AFP.

“However, before we all start rejoicing, Malaysia must implement the necessary legislative modifications to bring this vow into effect.”

He went on to say that successive Malaysian governments had a history of “promising a lot on human rights but delivering very little.”

Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, praised the action as “a good start in the right direction,” and urged the government to “go further and push towards full elimination of this harsh punishment.”

“Time and time again, we’ve observed and recorded how mandatory sentencing has disproportionately hurt society’s most marginalised and disenfranchised people.”

Ramkarpal Singh, an opposition politician whose party was in power when the government originally suggested removing the death sentence, said he supported the proposal.

He told AFP, “We have always called for the abolition of the mandatory death sentence.”

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