Malaysian government no immediate plans to abolish death penalty

Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz personally is for the abolition of the death penalty, but as a sitting Minister in the current government, the official position is that the government has no immediate plans to abolish the death penalty. He has called on Malaysians to oppose strongly if we want the death peanlty to be abolished (see Nazri: Oppose strongly if you want death penalty abolished (Star 2/3/2012)

The Malaysian Bar is now unanimous in its call for abolition (see Malaysian Bar unanimously passes resolution for the abolition of the death penalty (10/3/2012)

MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) and Amnesty Malaysia has come out calling for the abolition. Others groups also are for the abolition - but have yet to issue any statement recently calling for the abolition. 

Is Pakatan Rakyat for the abolition of the death penalty? Is DAP? Is PRM? Is PSM? Is PKR/ Is PAS? [The FMT report below says, "Pakatan MPs too supported the motion to end the death sentence" but I have not seen any statement that has been made by Pakatan MPs or Pakatan Rakyat on this issue that clearly states that they are for the abolition - PR should issue a clear statement calling for the abolition of the death penalty - and include it also clearly in their election manifesto (or the 'Buku Jingga')

Is the MCCBCHS for the abolition of the death penalty? Are you for the abolition of the death penalty? 

This is the time to come out and clearly call for the abolition of the Death Penalty in Malaysia..

Death penalty to stay, says Nazri
By Clara Chooi
March 29, 2012

Nazri (right) said the abolition of the death sentence would affect the rest of the country’s legal system.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Putrajaya has no immediate plans to abolish the death penalty, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz has said, insisting that Malaysia still needs the punishment as a deterrent for serious crimes.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said, however, that the proposal to remove the provision would be considered but only after a thorough review is conducted.

“The suggestion will be given fair consideration once a thorough review and careful study is done on all aspects, and after taking into cognisance the viewpoints of all relevant parties.

“This is needed because the scrapping of the death penalty or natural life imprisonment sentences would greatly impact the country’s legal system,” he said in a written response to Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) yesterday.

Explaining further, Nazri said it was appropriate to maintain the death penalty to deter serious offences like murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, drug trafficking under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and other crimes involving firearms, ammunition and explosives.

The Padang Rengas MP added that the same would apply to the natural life imprisonment sentence as it also involves serious crimes.

“The government at this time does not plan to abolish the death penalty or natural life sentence from the country’s legal system.

“The government is of the view that these penalties are still needed for certain heavy crimes.

“These penalties are more retributive in nature, that is to react towards offenders based on the crimes they have committed,” he said.

Earlier this month, Malaysian Bar members unanimously passed a resolution at the Bar Council’s annual general meeting (AGM) calling for capital punishment to be abolished and replaced with life imprisonment instead.

Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee had urged Datuk Seri Najib Razak to add this to his administration’s series of law reforms, saying the move should be “leadership driven”.

Lim claimed that empirical evidence from surveys has shown that despite the introduction of mandatory death sentences for drug trafficking, the number of cases continues to increase.

“Death penalty has zero deterrent effect, so why keep it in our books?” he said.

He pointed out that in light of weaknesses in the country’s legal system, innocent individuals could be found guilty of the offence and sentenced to death despite not committing the crime.

Lim had also urged parliamentarians to join the council in its campaign against the death penalty by pushing for amendments to current laws when the House sits from next week until April.- Malaysian Insider, 29/3/2012, Death penalty to stay, says Nazri

Nazri’s ‘flip-flop’ stand on death penalty
K Pragalath
 | March 30, 2012

Suaram calls on the the Minister in Prime Minister's Department, Nazri Aziz to make a firm stand on abolishing the death penalty.

PETALING JAYA: Suaram today called on Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nazri Aziz to make a firm stand on the death penalty.

It said he can’t have it both ways and callled his flip-flop stand “the ultimate denial of human rights”.

“On March 1, Nazri stated that he wanted the death penalty to be abolished and called for a mass movement of people to oppose the death penalty.

“However, yesterday, the minister insisted that Malaysia still needs this punishment as a deterrent for serious crimes,” said Suaram’s executive director E Nalini in a statement.

She was commenting on Nazri Aziz’s defence on the use of death penalty in response to a question raised by Bukit Gelugor MP, Karpal Singh in parliament yesterday.

Nazri had insisted that Malaysia still needed death penalty as a deterrent to to serious crime.

He added that the removal of the sentence would only be considered after a thorough review is conducted since its abolishment would have a major impact on the legal system.

Earlier this month Nazri called himself a “knight in armour” who is all for abolishing the death penalty and wanted a mass movement to end the sentence.

Pakatan MPs too supported the motion to end the death sentence.

International human rights organisation, Amnesty International and the Bar Council meanwhile were much more optimistic that Malaysia would eventually repeal the penalty.

Minister should convince the cabinet

Bar Council chairman Lim Chee Wee said: “It is safe to say that the statements were made by Nazri on behalf of the federal government.”

Lim’s confidence comes from the fact that Nazri has privately and publicly declared his personal view in support for the abolishment of the death penalty.

He added that Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail is also personally supportive for the repeal.

Lim also urged Nazri to persuade the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s administration to immediately move towards a moratorium and subsequently repeal the death sentence.

“The minister has been saying that the relevant civil societies and the Bar bear the burden of changing the hearts and minds of the perceived majority of Malaysians who favour the retention of the death penalty.

“However, we appeal to the minister to utilise his legal training and powers of advocacy to persuade the Cabinet and Najib to move towards abolition,” said Lim in a statement .

Amnesty International’s executive director Nora Murat too is confident that the government would review the death penalty.

“However the government needs to restrict the definition of serious crime. The United Nations Human Rights Commission and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights restricts it to crimes directly related to death,” said Nora. - Free Malaysia Today, 30/3/2012, Nazri’s ‘flip-flop’ stand on death penalty

79,487 whipped in Malaysia (2005 - 2011)

AS of Feb 28, 2012, 860 offenders have been meted the death penalty, based on statistics from the Prisons Department.

However, none have been executed because they were appealing.

In a written statement by the Home Ministry, 616 were appealing to the Court of Appeal, 94 to the Federal Court and 150 to the Pardons board.

The Home Ministry was replying to a question by Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) on the number of prisoners awaiting the death sentence and the number of offenders caned between 2005 and this year.

According to Prisons Department statistics, 79,487 offenders had been caned between 2005 and last year.

Of that number, 46,338 or 58.3 per cent were Malaysians while the remaining 33,149 or 41.7 per cent were foreigners. - New Straits Times, 27/3/2012, 860 on death row await appeal

860 sentenced to death in Malaysia (as of 28/2/2012)

AS of Feb 28, 2012, 860 offenders have been meted the death penalty, based on statistics from the Prisons Department.

However, none have been executed because they were appealing.

In a written statement by the Home Ministry, 616 were appealing to the Court of Appeal, 94 to the Federal Court and 150 to the Pardons board.

The Home Ministry was replying to a question by Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) on the number of prisoners awaiting the death sentence and the number of offenders caned between 2005 and this year.

According to Prisons Department statistics, 79,487 offenders had been caned between 2005 and last year.

Of that number, 46,338 or 58.3 per cent were Malaysians while the remaining 33,149 or 41.7 per cent were foreigners. - New Straits Times, 27/3/2012, 860 on death row await appeal


Read more: 860 on death row await appeal - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/860-on-death-row-await-appeal-1.66530#ixzz1qcQ3ULXW

Death penalty not deterring drug trade

Patrick Lee | March 19, 2012 

More people have been arrested over drug dealing, despite the shadow of the mandatory death penalty hanging over their heads.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s mandatory death penalty on drug-related crime does not appear to have stopped drug dealers .

In fact, it was the reverse: there has been a steady increase over the last three years, according to a reply in Parliament.

In a written answer to Bukit Gelugor MP (DAP) Karpal Singh, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that 3,845 people had been arrested for drug dealing in 2011.

“Police statistics for the arrests of drug dealers under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for the past three years (2009 to 2011) have shown an increase,” he said.

According to him, in 2009, 2,955 people were arrested under this section. In 2010, 3,700 people were arrested.

Karpal had asked if the 1983 amendments to the Act – which would slap serious drug offenders with capital punishment – had been effective in reducing drug-related crime.

To this, Hishammuddin said that the increase was caused by the trade’s ability to make a lot of money quickly; globalisation, creating a borderless world, which opened up a space for drug-dealing; and the “easier process” in which synthetic drugs were made, through the availability of chemical formulas and ingredients.

Previously, the Bar Council said that 32 countries around the world had death penalty for drug-related crime.

Of this number, 13 of them still enforced the mandatory death penalty, which included Malaysia.

The Bar Council’s president Lim Chee Wee said that most drug traffickers and dealers were “low-ranking drug mules”, who were the easiest (in the trade) to apprehend.

He added that there was no proof that the death penalty helped to cut down on drug-related crime. - Free Malaysia Today, 19/3/2012, Death penalty not deterring drug trade

Bar Council wants death penalty scrapped

Bar Council wants death penalty scrapped

Sunday, 11 March 2012 01:36pm

©The Malaysian Insider by Clara Chooi KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Lawyers unanimously passed a resolution at the Bar Council annual general meeting (AGM) today calling for capital punishment to be abolished and replaced with life imprisonment instead. Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee urged Datuk Seri Najib Razak to add this to his administration’s series of law reforms, saying the move should be “leadership driven”. “We, the (Malaysian) Bar, would like the prime minister to lead and say that the government will take the lead and put in an immediate moratorium on any death penalty sentences and act with speed to repeal all death penalty punishments in the statute books,” he told a press conference today after the AGM. “We look to leadership by the honourable prime minister to actually say that in Malaysia, as a country that wants to be progressive and liberal, this is not something we want in our statute books.” Lim claimed that empirical evidence from surveys has shown that despite the introduction of mandatory death sentences for an offence like drug trafficking, the number of cases continues to increase. “Death penalty has zero deterrent effect, so why keep it in our books?” he said. He pointed out that in light of weaknesses in the country’s legal system, innocent individuals could be found guilty of the offence and sentenced to death despite not committing the crime. Lim urged parliamentarians to join the council in its campaign against the death penalty by pushing for amendments to current laws when the House sits from next week until April. Earlier this month, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said the government could only abolish capital punishment in Malaysia if the majority of its citizens supports such a move. He added that the problem in doing away with the law is not an administrative one, but rather that the majority of Malaysians still does not favour it. “Many Malays, Muslims are very rigid with the way they behave when it comes to (abolishing) the death sentence, because they think that it is always about an eye for an eye. “It is important to convince Muslims and say that it is not necessarily an eye for an eye... the problem (with the abolishment) is not so much the government, it is society,” he had said during a university debate forum on the death penalty. Earlier during today’s AGM, the Bar Council also passed resolutions rejecting recent amendments to the Employment Act 1955 and approving the implementation of the “Continuing Professional Development” scheme (CPD). The scheme, which will undergo a two-year trial phase before full implementation, stipulates that all lawyers must commit 16 hours in the span of two years to attend courses, seminars, workshops, conferences or other appropriate events for the purpose of constantly updating their legal knowledge.

Malaysian Bar unanimously passes resolution for the abolition of the death penalty (10/3/2012)

Malaysian Bar(representing about 14,000 Malaysian Lawyers), at its 66th AGM on 10/3/2011 passed yet another Resolution for the abolition of the death penalty. Note that, unlike the past Resolution which had persons who opposed and those who abstained, this 2012 Resolution was passed unanimously (No objections, No abstention).

Resolution regarding the death penalty

Motion proposed by Naran Singh and jointly seconded by Pritam Singh Doal, GK Sritharan, T Gunaseelan and R Kengadharan, dated 28 Feb 2012

(As amended)

Now it is hereby resolved:

That the Malaysian Bar, taking into cognisance its earlier resolution at a previous Malaysian Bar AGM that the death penalty should be repealed, and bearing in mind the current public debate on the merits of the death penalty, calls upon the Government of Malaysia to take immediate steps to abolish the death penalty in any legislation providing for it, and insofar as those awaiting execution, that the death penalty be remitted by executive action.

The motion, as amended, was unanimously carried.

See Malaysian Bar Website 
- http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/malaysian_bar_s_resolutions/resolutions_adopted_at_the_66th_annual_general_meeting_of_the_malaysian_bar
_held_at_sunway_putra_hotel_kuala_lumpur_saturday_10_mar_2012.html

move towards abolition [the death penalty] without infringing on Islam...

‘Knight’ Nazri all for abolishing death penalty

K Pragalath | March 1, 2012 

 

The minister also called for a mass movement against the capital punishment.

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz called himself a “knight in armour” who is all for abolishing the death penalty.

But he said that he needed the support of all the other knights (MPs) to push for the removal of the capital punishment.

However, he added he supported the move in his individual capacity.

“As an individual, I am all for the abolition of the death penalty. We charge a person with murder because we don’t agree with the person taking a person’s life,” he said.

“If we don’t agree with taking a person’s life, what right does the government have to take a person’s life?”

Nazri was speaking at a debate on promoting the abolition of the death penalty in Malaysia here.

The debate was organised by the European Union, the Malaysian Bar and the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).

Malaysia is one of the 58 countries that still have the death penalty. There are about 700 death row inmates languishing in prisons in the country.

Mass movement

Nazri, who is also Padang Rengas MP, also said that for the death penalty to be abolished, there has to be a mass movement from the public against it.

He also urged the audience to move for a moratorium (on the dealth penalty).

“I hope one day the government will abolish the death penalty and I hope it is soon,” he said.

Nazri also told the audience that it would be easier to lift the death penalty by abolishing it in drugs and arms possession cases where the capital punishment is mandatory (upon conviction).

He urged the audience to persuade their respective MPs to call for the abolition of the death penalty.

“See your MPs… the voices of the people will be reflected in the MPs.

“While I say I can do it (abolish the death penalty), I still need the support of the MPs so that I can argue the case in Cabinet.

“I cannot suddenly go and say we need a moratorium. I am your knight in armour but I need the support of other knight in armours (MPs) too,” he said.

But, he added that the challenge was in convincing the Muslim majority.

Blood money

Referring to an earlier video presentation on the death penalty, he said that the Muslims are in favour of the death penalty because they believe in the proverb, “an eye for an eye”.

Nazri added that the proponents of the death penalty should convince the Muslims in (practising) the concept of “blood money” under syariah law.

In Islam, the way out is blood money.

He explained that the victim’s family would offer forgiveness in return for compensation.

“This way you can move towards abolition [the death penalty] without infringing on Islam.”

He said that this right to forgive should then be passed on to the government so that death row inmates can have their penalty commuted to life sentence.

Nazri also justified the government’s decision to deport Hamza Kashgari, a 22-year-old Saudi Arabian journalist who faces the death sentence after twitting some remarks on Prophet Muhammad.

Malaysian authorities deported him back to Saudi Arabia after he landed here on transit to New Zealand.

“We don’t need an extradition agreement with Saudi Arabia because it is only needed when there are contentious issues between countries,” Nazri said, who added that Kashgari’s action was also seditious according to Malaysian law.

Later, Nazri said that Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was afraid after he stated his support for Israel’s security in an interview in the US last month.

“Anwar is like a devil: when he falls he pulls the others as well. Israel’s security is not issue, Palestinian’s plight is,” he said.

Following the interview, Anwar accused former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of taking a pro-Israel stand in letters the latter wrote to the Israeli prime ministers.

Yesterday, the government released the contents of the letters addressed to Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.

Nazri said that as a former member of the Mahathir administration, he vouched for Mahathir’s consistent anti-Israel stand.- Free Malaysia Today, 1/3/2012, ‘Knight’ Nazri all for abolishing death penalty

Nazri: Oppose strongly if you want death penalty abolished (Star 2/3/2012)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government is open to views on the death penalty but it would require strong opposition from the people to abolish it, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz.

He said the Government had shown its determination for reformation by abolishing some laws which were considered draconian in the past two years.

“Certainly, the death penalty is something you can discuss with the Government.

“There must be a mass movement and strong opposition from the people for us to abolish the death penalty.

“Otherwise, nothing will change,” he said at a debate to abolish the death penalty here yesterday.

“Personally, I am all for the abolition,” he said.

Nazri said the Malays and Muslims were rigid when it came to the death sentence as they believed it was an issue of an eye for an eye, adding that it was important to convince them that this was not so.

“In Islam, a murderer is provided a way out of the offence that he or she had committed by paying compensation or blood money' to the victims or their family members.

“The family has the right to say that the murderer should be spared,” said Nazri.

On the deportation of Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari, Nazri said the Government would be hypocritical if it did not deport him because the death penalty was also implemented in Malaysia.

“It would have been inconsistent if we were one of the European Union countries.

“But the penalty is what we currently impose and we do not want to be looked upon as hypocritical,” he said.

Kashgari, 23, was arrested last month at KL International Airport at the request of Saudi Arabian authorities.

The columnist had posted a series of tweets on Prophet Muhammad that allegedly tantamount to blasphemy, an offence punishable by death. - Star, 2/3/2011, Nazri: Oppose strongly if you want death penalty abolished