16 November 2023 :

04 July 2023 :

The Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) will come into force in Malaysia on July 4, 2023.
According to the Federal Government Gazette dated June 30 published by the Attorney General’s Chambers, the date, which the Act comes into operation, was fixed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by subsection 1(2) of the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 [Act 846], the minister selects July 4, 2023 as the date on which the Act comes into operation,” the gazette stated.
On April 3, the Dewan Rakyat passed the Act, which aims to abolish the mandatory death penalty, to vary the sentence relating to imprisonment for natural life and whipping.
Under the Act, the court now has the discretion to impose the death penalty or imprisonment for a period of not less than 30 years, but not exceeding 40 years, and if not sentenced to death, shall also be punished with whipping of not less than 12 strokes.

03 April 2023 :

The Dewan Rakyat, or lower house, of Malaysia’s Parliament on 3 April 2023 approved legal reforms to abolish the mandatory death penalty for some offences.
The Dewan Negara, or upper house, will now take up the legislation, and if it passes there, it will be sent to the king to be signed into law. It is widely expected to be passed by the upper house.
The amendments would apply to 34 offences currently punishable by death, including murder and drug trafficking. Eleven of them carry it as a mandatory punishment.
Capital punishment would be removed as an option for some serious crimes that do not cause death, such as kidnapping and the discharging and trafficking of firearms.
Malaysia has had a moratorium on executions since 2018, but courts have continued to send inmates to death row.
Under the amendments passed on 3 April, alternatives to the death penalty would include whipping and imprisonment for 30 to 40 years under certain conditions.
Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh said capital punishment was an irreversible punishment that had not been an effective deterrent for crime.
“We cannot arbitrarily ignore the existence of the inherent right to life of every individual. The death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring,” he said while wrapping up the parliamentary debates on the bill.

15 March 2023 :

A drug dealer on 13 March 2023 was sentenced to death by Sibu High Court.
Judge Datuk Christopher Chin meted the sentence after finding the accused, Loi Kwong Kiat, 53, guilty of drug trafficking.
Loi was jointly charged with another man Loh Kung Huat, 56, under Section 39B (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act for trafficking 65.94g of methamphetamine on 20 July 2020 in a house in Lorong Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce.
The law provides for a death sentence by hanging upon conviction or a life sentence and 15 strokes of the rotan.
Loh, however, was acquitted and discharged last year after the court found that the prosecution could not establish a prima facie case against him.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenneth Mark Netto prosecuted the case while Loi was represented by counsel Rosli Gapor.

13 December 2023 :

A Bangladeshi man escaped the gallows after the Federal Court in Putrajaya on December 23, 2023 commuted his death sentence to 33 years in jail for murdering his fellow countryman.
Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, who presided with Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, also ordered Shohel to be given 12 strokes of the cane.
Justice Abang Iskandar said the court allowed Shohei’s appeal to set aside the death sentence imposed on him by the High Court and substituted it with 33 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.
He ordered Shohel to serve the sentence from the date of arrest on February 11, 2017.
Justice Abang Iskandar, however, affirmed Shohel’s murder conviction.
Shohel, 38, who was a construction worker, was found guilty by the High Court on October 23, 2019, for murdering Polaus Kumar, 29, a foreman, in an apartment which was under construction in Alam Jaya, Jeram, Kuala Selangor between 3.30pm and 4.40pm on February 9, 2017.
He lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal which was dismissed on November 2, last year.
According to the facts of the case, the headless body was found hanging on the 10th floor of an apartment building and the head was found at the lower floor of the apartment.
After his arrest, Shohel led the police to where he hid an axe and clothing he wore at the time of the incident.
A post-mortem result revealed that Polaus Kumar’s head was detached from the body and that his cause of death was decapitation.
In today’s proceedings, deputy public prosecutor K. Mangai informed the court that Shohel would withdraw his appeal against his conviction and both the defence and the prosecution would submit an alternative sentence.
Shohel’s counsel Muhammad Amirrul Jamaluddin asked the court to commute his client’s death sentence to prison following an amendment to section 302 of the Penal Code which abolished the mandatory death penalty and gave judges the discretion to impose custodial sentences.
He said the murder was not pre-meditated but happened at the spur of the moment due to provocation.
Also representing Shohei was lawyer Afifuddin Ahmad Hafifi.

07 December 2023 :

A 76-year-old former security guard on death row was among nine men who saw their death sentences commuted to 30 years’ jail under the temporary jurisdiction accorded to the Federal Court by law, FMT reported on December 6, 2023.
A five-member review panel chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat allowed the application by Jun Lam alias Chin Swee Kong under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.
The court also ordered that Jun’s jail term begin on Dec 3, 2006, the date of his arrest.
Also on the panel were Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Chief Judge of Malaya Zabidin Diah, and Justices Mary Lim and Abu Bakar Jais.
Jun, a convert to Islam, walked gingerly and had to be assisted by a prison warden when his case was called up for review.
He was arrested at KLIA on Dec 3, 2006 for trafficking 1.5kg of ketamine.
He was remanded in prison pending trial as those accused of an offence punishable by the death penalty are not allowed bail.
On Oct 10, 2008, the Shah Alam High Court convicted Jun and imposed the mandatory death sentence on him.
Jun failed in his final appeal before the Federal Court on March 20, 2014.
He has been incarcerated for 17 years and on death row for the past 15.
Deputy public prosecutor Tertralina Ahmed Fauzi did not object to Jun’s application.
Lawyer Abdul Rahid Ismail later told reporters that Jun would still have to spend another three years in jail before being entitled to release under a one-third remission of their jail term usually given to prisoners.
“We will apply for a pardon given that Jun is suffering from poor health,” he said.
Others who had their capital punishment sentences replaced with jail terms were Emmanuel Yaw Tieku of Ghana, 63; Nobies Weah Ezike of Liberia, 52; Zaiham Mislan, 48; Mohamad Che Tam, 62; Faiz Khairudin, 53; Siew Yoke Keong, 56; Wong Hong, 68; and Phung Geok Hoay, 70.
All will be freed from jail but Zaiham will receive 12 strokes of the rotan as he is still below 50 years of age.

22 November 2023 :

A former mechanic and a former cosmetician, convicted of two counts of trafficking drugs, had their death sentences commuted to 30 years in prison on November 22, 2023 by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail, chairing the three-member bench alongside Azman Abdullah and Azmi Ariffin, reduced the sentence after dismissing the appeals by Lim Teck Hock and Lee Sheue Ning against their convictions.
She said the drugs were indeed found in the bedroom occupied by the two appellants and that their version that the drugs belonged to two other persons was unreasonable.
However, Hadhariah said the court used its discretion under the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 to commute the couple’s death sentence to 30 years jail for each charge, which would start from Nov 1, 2018, the date of arrest.
She also ordered Lim and Lee to serve the sentences concurrently. Lim was spared the rotan because he is over 50 years old.
Lim, 63 and Lee, 31, were sentenced to death by the Penang High Court on Sept 27, 2022, for trafficking 77.9g of heroin and monoacetylmorphines, and 1.5kg of methamphetamine in an apartment in Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Lepas, Penang, at 3.20am on Nov 1, 2018.
Lawyers P Latsmanan and Hussaini Abdul Rashid, representing Lim and Lee respectively, submitted that the drugs belonged to two other individuals who were also arrested by police for drug offences.
Latsmanan said the two individuals were staying at the rented apartment a few days before the couple moved in. He said the couple were not husband and wife but were living together.
Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Abdul Aziz submitted the drugs belonged to Lim and Lee because they were found in the master bedroom which was occupied by the couple.

06 November 2023 :

A welder escaped the gallows in Malaysia on November 6, 2023 after the Court of Appeal commuted the death sentence imposed on him by the High Court to 35 years in jail for killing a housewife.
The three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk See Mee Chun and Datuk Azmi Ariffin dismissed Lin Siek Hong’s appeal against his conviction.
Justice Hadhariah set aside the death sentence and said that the court is exercising its discretion to substitute the death sentence with 35 years in jail.
In the court’s decision, Justice Hadhariah said this was not a case of provocation, adding that Yap Choon Mooi was stabbed in her heart which showed that Lin had intention to kill.
She also said that there was no suppression of evidence by the prosecution.
Lin was spared the whipping as he was 54 years old.
Lin was found guilty by the High Court on February 17, last year, for killing Yap, 41, at Lorong Tengah in Kampung Terentang, Rawang, Selangor at about 6.45am on December 11, 2018.
His lawyer Lee Teong Hooi had earlier argued that his client was provoked by the deceased and that his client did not have the intention to kill her. He also said the prosecution had also failed to call a Chinese woman who saw the incident, to testify in the trial.
Deputy public prosecutor Parvin Hameedah Natchiar argued that there was no withholding of information by the prosecution as the deceased’s husband did not know the Chinese woman who had informed him that his wife had been stabbed.

09 October 2023 :

A Malaysian Court of Appeal on October 5, 2023 commuted the death sentence imposed on a pair of lovers to 30 years in prison for the murder of a five-year-old boy, who is the son of the accused female, nine years ago.
A panel of three judges, consisting of Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk SM Komathy Suppiah, ordered R. Saravanan Kumar, 33, and T. Gayathry, 39, to serve the jail sentence from the date of their arrest.
"The appeal against the conviction is dismissed. The death sentence imposed by the George Town High Court against the two accused is set aside and commuted with 30-year imprisonment starting from the date of their arrest," said Judge Vazeer Alam on October 5. He also ordered Saravanan to be given 12 strokes of the cane.
Gayathry was spared the lashes as the law prohibits corporal punishment being meted out to women.
At the beginning of the proceeding, lawyer M Visvanathan, who appeared for Gayathry, informed the bench that the prosecution had accepted representations made on behalf of his client.
“They (prosecutors) have consented to withdraw the death penalty imposed and instead ask the court to impose a jail term,” said Visvanathan, who was assisted by V Sanjay Nathan.
Deputy public prosecutor Fuad Aziz confirmed the matter.
Lawyer N Selvarani, who represented Saravanan, then informed the court she had instructions to withdraw his appeal against conviction and sentence.
They were initially charged with committing the murder of S Kaviarasan at a house in Taman Keladi, Kulim, between Sept 20 and 27, 2014.
On Sept 24, 2020, the George Town High Court found the duo guilty and sentenced them to death.
Following the passing of a law by Parliament which came into effect last month, judges now have the discretion to substitute the death penalty with a custodial sentence ranging between 30 and 40 years.
Male offenders will also receive a minimum 12 strokes of the rotan.
According to the facts of the case, Gayathry had initially filed a missing person’s report claiming her son, Kaviarasan, had disappeared from the Esplanade grounds in George Town on Sept 20, 2014.
However, after questioning by police, she admitted that her son had been beaten up and, in panic, she and Saravanan dumped the body at an oil palm estate in Bukit Mertajam.
During the trial, Gayathry blamed Saravanan for beating Kaviarasan to death with the leg of a chair.
A post-mortem report revealed Kaviarasan died due to blunt force trauma to the head.
Trial judge judicial commissioner (now judge) Ahmad Shahrir Salleh also found that Saravanan was waiting in a car while she made the report, but did not make any attempt to alert police about his wrongdoing.
Based on Gayathry’s own admission, he said, she did not stop Saravanan from beating up Kaviarasan.
Saravanan, in his defence, said he was not with Gayathry at the time of the incident on Sept 20, 2014, as he was working on night shift as a security guard. He said he travelled to Klang to visit his parents the following day.
However, Shahrir rejected the defence on grounds that he had failed to give notice of his alibi as required under the Criminal Procedure Code.

21 September 2023 :

A married couple escaped the gallows in Malaysia after the Court of Appeal on August 23, 2023 commuted their death sentence to a maximum jail sentence of 40 years for murdering their daughter.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk S.M.Komathy Suppiah upheld the conviction against Anuar Yusof and his wife Murni Ahmad for the offence and ruled that their appeals did not have merits.
Justice Hadhariah, who delivered the court's unanimous decision, said the court found there was overwhelming evidence that the 22-year-old Siti Hajar died due to the acts by the couple, who are her father and stepmother, by neglecting, abusing and starving her for a period of three to six months.
She, however, set aside the death sentence imposed on the couple by the High Court and substituted it with an imprisonment of 40 years and ordered them to begin their jail sentence from the date of their arrest on April 26, 2016.
Following an amendment made to Section 302 of the Penal Code, the court can impose a jail term of not less than 30 years and not exceeding 40 years on offenders if not given the death sentence. Male offenders shall also be punished with whipping of not less than 12 strokes.
Anuar, 57, and Murni, 42, were found guilty by the High Court in 2021 for murdering Siti Hajar in a house at Jalan Air Putih, Taman Semarak, Binjai in Chukai at 10.45 pm on April 26, 2016. They were sentenced to death, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

14 August 2023 :

The Court of Appeal in Malaysia on July 20, 2023 handed a Kenyan woman a lesser sentencing after reviewing her case in which she was found guilty of trafficking drugs and other illegal substances.
On July 20 the appellate court overturned an earlier ruling that had handed the woman a death sentence. Instead, it convicted her to 12 years in prison starting in 2016 when she was arrested.
The prosecution presented sufficient evidence, thus incriminating the convict who was accused of attempting to enter the country with banned substances via the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. 
According to police reports, the drugs were found hidden in her bag's lower and upper compartments, wrapped inside wooden layers and black fabric.
Her lawyer, nonetheless, argued that the convict fell prey to a well-organised syndicate that lured her to traffick drugs to the Asian country. 
In his presentation, he also argued that the Kenyan native was from a poor background, which acted as a major factor in her recruitment.
The attorney thus requested the court to release the mother of four to make ends meet for her children.
The lawyer's presentation convinced the court, especially after he proved that the convict had reformed. 
However, his prayer to have his client be sentenced to nine years in jail was denied, with the judge settling on 12 years instead. 

07 August 2023 :

Two men were sentenced to the gallows by the Sibu High Court on July 31, 2023 for robbing and murdering a senior citizen for money to buy drugs.
Jeeji Ting Kim Leong, 32, and Syahadan Othman Sabang, 29, were convicted under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with section 34 of the same code.
They had, between 1am and 7.10pm on June 27, 2018 at an unnumbered house in Pulau Kerto, committed murder in furtherance of common intention by causing the death of Ting Poh Sing, 63.
Justice Datuk Christopher Chin Soo Yin said the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that the attack on the victim was planned and premeditated.
The victim’s hands and legs were bound and in that forced position, she was strangled to death.
Her death was neither accidental nor caused by negligence, he added.
"There is nothing in my mind to doubt the evidence of the forensic pathologist.
"The two accused are regular drug consumers and had a clear motive to rob the deceased for money to feed their drug habit.
"In fact there was undisputed evidence the upper portion of the deceased's house was used by the two accused with others as a drug den," he said.
"In accordance with Section 277 of the Criminal Procedure Code you will be taken to a place and at a time to be determined later where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead," he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Mark Kenneth Netto prosecuted. Ting was represented by Yap Hoi Liong and Ben Lau Le Bin while Syahadan was represented by Jacob Wong.

03 August 2023 :

Two foreigners were sentenced to death by the High Court in Shah Alam on July 28, 2023 after they were found guilty of the murder of a local Grab driver five years ago.
Judge Nurulhuda Nur’aini Mohamad Nor handed down the sentence on Myanmar national Sua Lay, 38, and Indian national Gurpreet Singh, 28, after they failed to raise a reasonable doubt at the end of their defence.
In her judgment, Nurulhuda said no defence had been put forth or raised in the murder of the driver of the p-hailing service.
She said the argument by both accused that they did not understand Bahasa Malaysia was also not acceptable as they were able to give the victim directions to stop prior to reaching their original destination.
In addition, she said, both men were able to lead the police to the discovery of the victim’s Perodua Myvi car key.
“The victim was strangled and there were injuries on his neck. The DNA of both accused were also found on the driver’s seat belt.
“Although it cannot be said to be (a) cruel (murder), the fact remains that the victim was left in the car. This shows the accused had no compassion for the deceased. On this basis, I concur with the prosecution’s submission and sentence them to death by hanging,” she said.
On July 16, 2018, Sua Lay and Gurpreet were charged at the Selayang Magistrates Court for murdering the Grab driver on June 21 of the same year.
They were jointly charged with killing Grab driver, Aiman Nosri, 27, at a carpark in the back alley of Block C, Taman Selayang Makmur, Selayang Baru, Batu Caves, at 10.18 pm on June 21, 2018.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which is punishable by the mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.

27 February 2023 :

An odd-job worker, who was charged with the murder of his friend after he was found living with the corpse for a week, was sentenced to death on 21 February 2023 by the Ipoh High Court.
Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed handed down the verdict to Mohd Azhud Ibrahim, 33 after finding the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt.
In his judgment, Wahab said that the accused, who opted to testify from the dock without taking an oath, had claimed that he had no intention of murdering his friend after both were involved in a fight.
"The accused has failed the test of reasonableness of his story and his defence is only in the form of a bare denial and afterthought. The accused in his testimony stated that he had no intention of killing the deceased. In fact, he stated that after the fight, he went out to buy food and drinks for the deceased.
"However, according to the testimony of the pathologist, the result of the post-mortem performed on the deceased found that there was undigested food in his stomach.
"There were also bruises on the right cheek that extended to the jaw and a wound from a cut that had penetrated to the gums. How could the deceased eat in such a condition," he said.
As such, Wahab said that the fight between the accused and his friend took place before the deceased ate was purely a bare denial, and there was no supporting evidence to show where the accused had bought the food and drinks at the time.
"The accused also said that he hit his friend to protect himself. However, the authorities found a hole on the ground that had been dug. The question is, why do you dig a hole if you don't have the intention to kill him?" he said.
The accused appeared calm after the judge announced his decision. His brother, who was in the public gallery, could be seen shedding tears.
According to the charge sheet, the accused was charged with murdering Ahmad Azam Ahmad by assaulting him with a bamboo pole and a sugarcane stalk and stepping on him to death.
He was accused of having committed the offence at a house at No. 2A Lorong Mohd Ali Kampung Bahagia, Teluk Intan between 12.10am and 8am on 10 August 2018. The charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fitri Sadarudin prosecuted while the accused was represented by lawyer Gurbachan Singh.
A total of 20 prosecution witnesses and two defence witnesses, as well as the accused himself, testified in the trial.

19 November 2023 :

978 out of 1,020 death row and natural life imprisonment inmates have applied to have their sentence reviewed since Nov 9, said the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said on November 14, 2023.
Based on the latest data, the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia disclosed it has received a total of 871 applications for death sentence review and 117 applications for natural life imprisonment review respectively under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act.
“The unity government wishes to reiterate that the death penalty is still retained as a punishment for criminal offences under Malaysia’s criminal justice system.
“However the imposition of the death penalty is no longer mandatory and the amendments to the law have now given judges the liberty to use their discretion to mete out the appropriate punishment.
“This matter is in line with the government’s commitment to give a second chance to death row inmates and allow them to continue their livelihood as a common citizen,” she said in a statement on November 14.
The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act allows the courts to now have the option of choosing between giving a death sentence or other alternatives for certain offences, including the offence of murder.
Under this new law, murder is now punishable with either the death penalty; or the alternative of between 30 and 40 years’ jail and whipping of not less than 12 strokes. 

05 July 2023 :

Close to 1,000 prisoners on death row or serving natural life jail terms will have to wait before filing applications to the Federal Court for a review of their sentences under a law passed by Parliament recently, Free Malaysia Today reported on July 4, 2023.
Deputy law and institutional reform minister Ramkarpal Singh said the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 received royal assent on June 9 and was gazetted on June 16.
“Applicants who want the court to review their sentence may do so only after the minister determines the date for the law to come into force,” he said in a statement.
Ramkarpal said the government’s legal affairs division in the Prime Minister’s Department had held several meetings with all stakeholders to discuss the manner in which the one-time review will be implemented.
“Details of the mechanism and guidelines will be revealed in due course,” he added.
The law passed by Parliament gives the apex court temporary powers to review death and natural life imprisonment sentences as part of reforms in the wake of their abolition.
As of May, 840 inmates remain on death row after their final appeals to the Federal Court were dismissed.
Applications by 25 of them to the Pardons Board to have their death penalty commuted to a jail term have also been rejected.
Another 70 are serving natural life jail terms, meaning they will remain behind bars until they die.
The affected convicts were found guilty of murder, drug trafficking and possession of firearms.
Under this law, these convicts must, within 90 days after the law has come into force, file for a review of their sentence before a three-member Federal Court bench to substitute their punishment with a jail term of between 30 and 40 years.
Their original sentence will be maintained if the review is dismissed.
The mandatory death penalty was abolished today, meaning trial and appellate court judges now have the discretion on whether to impose the death penalty or longer jail terms, based on the facts and circumstances of each case.

29 March 2023 :

The government should consider retaining the death penalty for serious and heinous crimes, Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow said on 26 March 2023.
The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia Faculty of Syariah and Law associate professor asserted that death penalty “is still relevant” and must be strictly implemented to deter serious and heinous crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking and murder.
“The government should consider the implication over the commission of serious and heinous crimes to the victims, their family and the society.
“There should not be any compromise on subjecting criminals to punishment,” he said in the statement.
Last year, the previous federal government agreed to do away with the death penalty. Recently, the federal Cabinet gave its green light to several new policies in a bid to abolish the mandatory death penalty.
Muzaffar opined that there was concern that without capital punishment like the death penalty, more serious and heinous crimes would be committed in the society.
Towards this end, he feared that more innocent people would fell prey to serious and heinous crimes.
“Among the suitable punishments to prevent serious and heinous crimes is by having strict capital punishment. There have been many debates for the last many years over the issue on the abolishment of mandatory death penalty in not just Malaysia but all over the world.
“There are pros and cons over the proposal to abolish the death penalty. It has been argued that death penalty is an important tool for upholding law and order within the society as well as to deter crime.
“This group of people also argued that retribution or ‘an eye for an eye’ would honour the victims, help console grieving families, and ensure that the perpetrators of serious and heinous crimes never have the chance or opportunity to commit similar crimes towards other people,” he elaborated.
According to Muzaffar, those who oppose to capital punishment believe that such penalty serves no deterrent effect on crimes, and that it is morally wrong to empower governments to take human lives.
He said this group asserted that life sentence “is a more severe punishment than the death penalty”.
“Since many serious and heinous crimes still happen in our country, the government needs to re-consider its position over the issue concerning the abolishment of mandatory death penalty especially for serious and heinous crimes.
“The government needs to establish a special committee to analyse its latest intention to abolish mandatory death penalty in the country before making any final decision on such matter,” he added.
The academician said the special committee should comprise experts like judges and lawyers, academicians, relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and concerned individuals like family members or relatives of the victims of serious and heinous crimes.

28 March 2023 :

The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023 was tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) on 27 March 2023.
It was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.
Azalina said when tabling the bill that it would be presented for second reading during the current sitting.
According to the blue copy of the bill circulated in Parliament on 27 March, it aims to abolish the mandatory death penalty, change the punishment to life imprisonment and whipping, as well as provide for matters related to it through the amendment of seven related acts.
The acts are the Penal Code (Act 574), Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 (Act 37), Arms Act 1960 (Act 206), Kidnapping Act 1961 (Act 365), Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Act 234), Strategic Trade Act 2010 (Act 708), and Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593).
The amendments to the acts are in line with the government's policy to abolish the mandatory death penalty in all legislation.
In addition, the amendment to Act 574 is being made to replace the mandatory death penalty with a discretionary death penalty, including for offences under Sections 121A, 130C, 302 and 374A of the Penal Code.
With the amendment, the courts will have discretion on whether to impose a death sentence or prison sentence for a period not exceeding 40 years.
The government previously agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty by imposing an alternative sentence subject to the courts' discretion.
The decision was reached following the presentation of a report by the Special Committee to Review Alternative Sentences to the Mandatory Death Penalty at the Cabinet meeting on 8 June 2022.