After being tabled for its third reading in Parliament today, a Bill proposing to make the death penalty optional rather than mandatory was passed by voice vote.
Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Alice Lau called for the vote after Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Ramkarpal Singh gave his concluding remarks on the Bill, Malay Mail reported.
Ten MPs had taken part in the debate on the bill.
Ramkarpal said it was crucial to abolish the mandatory death penalty in favour of alternative sentences as the death penalty was “irreversible”.
“The death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring,” he said when winding up the debate in the Dewan Rakyat.
“We must have confidence in the judiciary to exercise their discretion in a fair manner.”
Before deciding to abolish the mandatory death penalty, the government, according to Ramkarpal, sought input from family members of murder victims.
He went on to say that the families of the victims had also been contacted by former chief justice Richard Malanjum, who oversaw a special committee for the investigation of alternatives to the mandatory death penalty in 2020.
“The government did not just seek the opinion of only one side, but from both sides – the pro-abolishment and the anti-abolishment groups – in making this decision,” he said.
“This decision also considered other factors such as the principle of proportionality, which is whether the death penalty sentence is proportionate with the crime committed, the human rights of the offender and whether restorative justice will be achieved.”
The Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Bill would allow judges to impose the death penalty at their discretion rather than requiring them to do so when convicting for crimes that made it mandatory.
In addition, the life sentence and natural life imprisonment (until death) alternatives to the mandatory death penalty are being replaced by a new alternative that calls for a jail term of 30 to 40 years and a minimum of 12 cane strokes.
Before being presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for royal assent, the Bill must now be approved in the Dewan Negara as well.
ALSO CHECK OUT:
