Capital punishment in Malaysia
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Malaysian law.
There are 34 capital crimes in Malaysia, including murder, drug trafficking, treason, acts of terrorism, waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and, since 2003, rape resulting in death, or the rape of a child. Executions are carried out by hanging. Capital punishment was mandatory for 11 crimes for many years. In October 2018, the government imposed a moratorium on all executions until it was abolished. On 4 July 2023, mandatory capital punishment was abolished when the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) came into force.[1]
History[edit]
The idea behind capital punishment in Malaysia arose from a mix between the common law system that Malaysia inherited from British colonisation, as British Malaya, and the authorisation of capital punishment in Islam.[2]
Current practice[edit]
Death penalties are carried out in Malaysia by hanging. As of 2015 the penalty was mandatory in twelve offences and possible in thirty-three.[3] The thirty-three capital crimes included murder, drug trafficking, treason, acts of terrorism, waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and, since 2003, rape resulting in death, or the rape of a child.[4] As of March 2023, there were thirty-four capital crimes, including murder and drug trafficking, with eleven of them carrying the mandatory death penalty.[5]
On 3 April 2023, the Dewan Rakyat approved new legislation abolishing the mandatory death penalty by voice vote.[6]
Recent developments[edit]
In 2016, Malaysia carried out nine executions, imposed 36 death sentences, and two death sentences were commuted. Malaysia was also reported to have 1,042 death row inmates, including 413 foreign nationals.[23] According to the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Malaysia carried out four executions in 2017.[24]
Ongoing discussions to repeal the death penalty as a mandatory sentence have occurred during the 2010s.[25][26][27]
On 10 October 2018, Liew Vui Keong, the minister in charge of law in the Prime Minister's Department, announced that the Malaysian Government would abolish the death penalty. The minister announced that the government had imposed a moratorium on all executions until the passage of the new law. The Pakatan Harapan government had campaigned on reviewing capital punishment and other "unsuitable" national security laws during the 2018 Malaysian general election.[25][26][27] The bill would mean that these serious crimes might only face the possibility of the death penalty in a High Court sentencing.[28]
The government's announcement to abolish capital punishment was welcomed by Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's Secretary General, who called on the Malaysian Parliament to consign the death penalty to the history books.[29] In contrast, multiple groups and people have come out against the abolition of the death penalty, including non-governmental Malay dominance organization, Perkasa.[30]
In March 2019, the government announced its decision to retain the death penalty, although it was announced that, despite the death penalty being retained as an official punishment in Malaysia, it will no longer be used as a mandatory punishment.[31][32][33]
On 13 July 2019, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong disclosed that a Bill to abolish mandatory death penalty was expected to be tabled in Parliament in October once the government had decided on appropriate prison terms for 11 serious crimes that it covers.[34]
On 10 December 2019, the Law Minister Liew Vui Keong announced that an anticipated proposal on alternatives to the death penalty would be submitted in January 2020, allowing judges a discretion in certain serious crimes.[35] The 2020–2022 Malaysian political crisis beginning in February 2020 led to a change in government, but subsequently the new Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar confirmed on 10 June 2022, that mandatory capital punishment would be formally abolished, with capital punishment being under the discretion of a judge.[36] After the 2022 Malaysian general election led to another change in government, the new administration formally passed new legislation in April 2023 officially abolishing the mandatory death penalty, with Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh telling Parliament, "The death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring."[37]
In April 2023, the Anwar Ibrahim cabinet introduced legislation in Parliament formally repealing the mandatory death penalty. The new law would replace the mandatory death penalty with a sentence of 30 to 40 years in prison, with the exception of offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 where life imprisonment would remain a possibility. The law would repeal the death penalty altogether for 10 offences, and allow judges discretion to either impose the death penalty or a prison sentence in 11 other offences.[38]
On 3 April 2023, the Dewan Rakyat approved the legislation abolishing the mandatory death penalty by voice vote.[6] The death penalty would be retained, but courts would have discretion to replace it with other punishments, including whipping and imprisonment of 30–40 years. This new jail term replaces sentences "for the duration of the offender's natural life". Life imprisonment in Malaysian law a fixed 30-year term, was retained.[5]