Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong

MALAYSIA: GERAKAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

December 9, 2013: Gerakan launched its anti-death penalty campaign in a bid to abolish the controversial law in Malaysia.
Party president Mah Siew Keong said his party aims to collect at least 100,000 signatures against capital punishment.
“Many studies have shown that the death penalty does not deter crime effectively,” he said during the launch of the campaign at Gerakan headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Mah pointed out that Malaysia is one of several countries which still practices capital punishment despite the United Nation’s call to abolish the death penalty.
He acknowledged that the abolition of the law was not a straightforward mission, but believes that with enough support, it would put significant pressure on Parliament to repeal the law.
“We will definitely ask our partners in Barisan Nasional (BN) to join us. When it comes to decision making, it involves the whole government,” he said.
“However, we feel this issue is not only about BN, as I’m sure a lot of people will agree with us.
“We will seek the cooperation of Pakatan Rakyat, and together, with enough signatures, maybe Parliament can amend the law,” he added.
Mah said a party’s struggle need not be popular nor political, and hoped both sides of the political divide can come together to fight for an issue which would benefit the country.
“Gerakan believes the issue does not have to be popular one, we can forget about that. We fight because we believe in the cause and hope to achieve something good for the country,” he said.
The party proposed that the death penalty should instead be replaced with life imprisonment, with or without parole. (Sources: Free Malaysia Today, 09/12/2013)