Media
statement by Democratic Action Party Member of Parliament for Batu
Kawan and member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action Kasthuri
Patto on Wednesday, 24 March 2017 in Penang.
Highly
immoral, inhumane and a gross misconduct on the part of the Najib
administration under the Barisan Nasional government to continue with
executions on prisoners on death row when the Attorney General has
not presented recommendations to the Cabinet to amend laws on the
mandatory death penalty.
In
the wee hours of this morning, 24 May 2017, 2 men had been executed
at Sungai Buloh Prison – a Malaysian Chinese and Yong Kar Mun, 48
who was sentenced to death in 2009 for armed robbery.
The
double execution this morning comes as a grave shock to Members of
Parliament, the Malaysian Bar, Amnesty International, the Human
Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and other human rights
bodies, but most importantly, the unconsolable grief of the 2
families who had not been notified on the exact date and time of the
secretive nature of the executions of these two men.
Time
and time again, lawmakers have been questioning the government in the
Malaysian Parliament on the status of the abolition of the death
penalty in Malaysia and stressing on an immediate moratorium on the
death penalty pending possible amendments to laws that warrant the
death sentence as a method of punishment and revenge.
On
5th September 2016 a Special Task force had been formed on
the abolition of the death penalty attended by MP for Ipoh Barat M.
Kulasegaran, SUHAKAM, Amnesty International, The Attorney General's
Chambers, academicians, the Malaysian Bar Council, Home Ministry and
also the National Security Council. On 1st March this
year, the Cabinet was presented with the findings of a research by
Roger Hood and International Centre for Law
and Legal Studies (I-CeLLS)
by
the Attorney General himself whereby the Cabinet had decided
and agreed
that provisional amendments to Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act
1952 by including that discretionary
powers
be given to courts to mete
out the punishment befitting the crime.
In
the last Parliament sitting in April, Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Azalina Othman cemented the fact that a
memorandum from the Cabinet together with the proposed amendments to
the DDA 1952 will be brought again to the Cabinet for further
consideration. Dato
Azalina also stressed that the mandatory death penalty has proven
that it is NOT a deterrent
to crime.
The
government has committed countless
times over the years, to
amend provisions in the law to grant discretionary
powers to the courts on drug related offences that carry the
mandatory death penalty and
yet appears apprehensive in committing to see it through. Why then
the chest thump on transforming Malaysia into a nation that upholds
and respects human rights when it is not serious on imposing a
moratorium on all death row cases, across the board until
discussions, meetings and even amendments are made?
While
the Attorney General prepares the documents on the amendments of the
law on the mandatory death penalty, executions are still going
on in
Malaysian prisons and
in
this
year alone, Malaysia
executed 4 people in
5 months!
The
Najib administration has violated international human rights
standards and laws in its persistent lack of transparency in carrying
out executions.
It
appears that the Malaysian government is more keen on executing
prisoners than making just, reformist, progressive, positive changes
in the law to uphold, promote, protect and defend human rights.
Until
and unless Prime
Minister Najib Razak pull the brakes and halt ALL executions and
impose a moratorium until law reforms have been made to safeguard the
sanctity and the spirit of the right to life and human rights in
Malaysia, vision TN50 will be merely a hollow meaningless effort to
transform Malaysia into a developed, progressive nation.
I
call upon the Attorney General, the Prime Minister Najib Razak and
the PM's Department to present the findings on the research to
abolish the death penalty in the next Cabinet meeting and in the same
vein to propose and to impose a moratorium on ALL death row prisoners
until the matter is brought to Parliament, debated and passed.
Highly
immoral, inhumane and a gross misconduct on the part of the Najib
administration under the Barisan Nasional government to continue with
executions on prisoners on death row when the Attorney General has
not presented recommendations to the Cabinet to amend laws on the
mandatory death penalty.
Kasthuri
Patto
Member
of Parliament for Batu Kawan
Publicity
Secretary of Wanita DAP
Member
of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) for the Abolition of
the Death Penalty
Democratic
Action Party
