Mkini: Do away with ‘cold-blooded’ death penalty, govt urged

Do away with ‘cold-blooded’ death penalty, govt urged

Feb 25, 05 3:22pm

The death penalty imposed on the murderer of Canny Ong Lay Kian is just as bad and unacceptable as the crime itself, said an anti-corporal punishment group in a statement today.

“(Her) murder was indisputably shocking and barbaric. However, the death penalty to the perpetrator is just as barbaric and amoral.

“The death penalty is a glaring instance of state amorality and cold-bloodedness at its worst,” said the newly-formed Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet).

On Tuesday, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced 29-year-old aircraft cabin cleaner Ahmad Najib Aris to death by hanging for the rape and murder of the US-based IT analyst in 2003.

However, Madpet accused the state of being savage by imposing the death penalty as it “reiterates the very crime it seeks to mark as reprehensible and the solution it arrives at is thus inconsequent to the problem it addresses”.

“The state-sponsored extinguishing of human lives is not a solution to the problem of the crime,” said its coordinators N Surendran, Charles Hector and Salbiah Ahmad in the statement.

They argued that studies have consistently shown that there is no evidence that the death penalty effectively deters crime and furthermore, as the punishment is irreversible, the state runs the risk of executing innocent people.

“For example, since 1973, more than 100 condemned persons have been released in the US (United States) due to credible fresh evidence,” they added.

Malaysia has hanged 358 people over the past 24 years.

Suspend executions

Madpet claims that since 1976, at least three countries a year have abolished the death penalty and that as of today over half of the world’s nations have abolished the punishment.

“This worldwide trend towards abolition is reflected by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) resolutions calling for the suspension of all executions towards final abolition,” it added.

The UNHRC has, since 1997, passed a resolution calling on countries that have not abolished the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions.

The latest UNHRC resolution which was adopted in April 2004, was co-sponsored by 76 UN member states and recorded its highest support figure.

Urging the Malaysian government to support the growing global stand against the death penalty, Madpet has called on it to immediately cease the “brutal punishment”.
“We call for a suspension of all executions pending abolition of the death penalty. We call for this in the name of humanity,” it added.

Madpet’s calls are in-tandem with those made by international rights organisations such as Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union.

MADPET(24/2/05) ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

The murder of Canny Ong was indisputably shocking and barbaric. However, the death penalty meted to the perpetrator is just as barbaric and amoral. The death penalty is a glaring instance of State amorality and cold-bloodedness at its worst.

Since 1976, every year at least 3 countries have abolished the death penalty and today over half of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty. This worldwide trend towards abolition is reflected by the UN Human Rights Commission’s Resolution calling for the suspension of all executions towards final abolition.

The State-sponsored extinguishing of human lives is not a solution to the problem of crime. Studies have consistently shown that there is no evidence that the death penalty effectively deters crime. As this punishment is irreversible, we run the horrendous risk of executing innocent persons. For example since 1973, more than 100 condemned persons have been released in the US due to credible fresh evidence.

The infliction of the death penalty upon its citizens by the State, reduces it to the level of a savage. It reiterates the very crime which it seeks to mark as reprehensible and the solution it arrives at is thus inconsequent to the problem it addresses.

The statistics in Malaysia are shocking as 358 people have been hanged over the past 24 years.

We call for an immediate cessation of this brutal punishment.

We call for a suspension of all executions pending abolition of the death penalty.

We call for this in the name of Humanity.

N. Surendran
Charles Hector
Salbiah Ahmad

for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)

24th February 2005

MADPET(19/2/05) STOP ABUSES OF POWER BY ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

STOP ABUSE OF POWER BY ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

We are sickened by news report that Simpang Rengam District Council enforcement officers entered a private premise and brutally killed a dog, the family pet, in front of the family. The helpless animal which was a beloved family pet of 6 children was killed with shocking cruelty. Siau Mau, as it was lovingly called by the children was shot and then bludgeoned to death.

We view with grave concern the increasing instances of enforcement officials who abuse their power and easily resort to the use of guns.

In a notorious incident in Penang in mid- January, Yeoh Yew Jin, a 19 year old alleged VCD seller was shot in the chest by enforcement personnel. The shot also injured a 52 year old innocent by-stander having his dinner at a nearby coffee shop.

Despite a public outcry following this incident, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made a poorly reasoned decision to continue to allow enforcement officers to bear firearms.

His decision showed a disturbing lack of sensitivity to the interest and safety of the general public and is inconsistent with his professed people friendly and transparent administration.

We are further shocked that the Simpang Rengam District Council enforcement officers had abused their power by trespassing into a private citizens home and destroying private property.
We call upon the authorities to take swift and stern action against those involved in this shameful incident. There must be no hesitation to charge in court those guilty of wrongdoing for cruelty to an animal, criminal trespass and destruction of private property.

We also call upon the Prime Minister to re-consider his decision to allow enforcement officers to carry arms as it is not certain that they are able to bear this responsibility without endangering the Malaysian public.

N. Surendran
Charles Hector
for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (MADPET)

19th February 2005

Mkini - Gov't reveals execution statistics: 358 hanged in 24 years

Gov't reveals execution statistics: 358 hanged in 24 years

Feb 3, 05 8:56am

The government has revealed that it executed 358 people by hanging in the past 24 years, parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

Lim said he had received the statistics from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Minister for Internal Security, in response to a written question submitted in parliament.

Figures for the number of executions in Malaysia have rarely been published, and media attempts to establish the number in recent years were rebuffed.

The death penalty is imposed in Malaysia for a number of offences from murder and treason to drug trafficking, for which it is mandatory.

Lim, who leads the biggest opposition party in parliament, the Democratic Action Party, said the prisons department had provided him with a statistical breakdown of just 234 of the hangings.

This showed that 50 foreign nationals were hanged, including seven from Thailand, eight from Hong Kong, 23 from the Philippines, four from Singapore, two from Indonesia and one each from Australia, Britain and Pakistan.

Forty-six of them were hanged for drug offences.

Of 184 Malaysian citizens executed, 48 were from the indigenous Malay majority, 102 were members of the ethnic Chinese minority and 15 were ethnic Indians. Most of the executions - 129 - were also for drug offences.

Five of the 234 people hanged were women.

12 hanged under ISA

Twelve of the executions were for offences under the Internal Security Act (ISA), all between 1984 and 1993. Lim told AFP he could not immediately account for the number of hangings for security offences in such a concentrated period.

The act, most widely known for the powers it gives the authorities to detain people without trial, also prescribes the mandatory death penalty for certain offences to be tried in court, including carrying firearms, ammunition or explosives "in any security area".

The ISA was introduced by former British colonisers to fight a communist insurgency in the 1950s, and has been used more recently to detain without trial more than 80 suspected Islamic militants.

The number of executions overall, according to the limited figures released by the prisons department, reached a peak of 31 in 1990 while just 15 had been hanged since 2000. None were executed last year, according to these statistics.

Lim said the period between the end of all appeals and the carrying out of the sentence varied from less than a year to more than four years.

- AFP