In Malaysia capital crimes include murder, rape, drug crimes, treason and possession of arms.

January 1, 2008: In Malaysia capital crimes include murder, rape, drug crimes, treason and possession of arms.
The Penal Code, under Section 302, makes the penalty for murder mandatory death by hanging.
The Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, at Section 39B on possessing and distributing drugs, also carries a mandatory death sentence. Between 1983 and 2002, at least 210 people were hanged in Malaysia for drug-related crimes.
A 1961 law on kidnapping prescribes a life sentence or the death penalty preceded by a whipping.
In January 2003 the death penalty was instated as mandatory punishment for rapists who cause death and child rapists.
The Malaysian High Courts only try criminal cases punishable with the death penalty. Death sentences issued by a High Court can be appealed at the Court of Appeal. If an appeal is unsuccessful a death row inmate can have resort to the Federal Court. The last resort is the State Pardons Board. The King alone is empowered to commute death sentences.
In general about two years pass between the passing of a death sentence and the execution of the person condemned. Some appeals processes however exceeded 10 years.
As of March 21, 2006 a total of 159 death row convicts were awaiting execution in prisons nationwide.
On February 3, 2005, Malaysia revealed it had executed 358 people by hanging in the past 24 years. Opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, said he received the statistics from Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in response to a written question submitted in parliament. The figures also revealed that 50 foreign nationals had been hanged. They included seven from Thailand, eight from Hong Kong, 23 from the Philippines and four from Singapore. Two Indonesian had been put to death as well as one each from Australia, Britain and Pakistan. Forty-six of them were hanged for drug offences. Twelve of the executions were for offences under the Internal Security Act.
In 2006, one execution took place in Malaysia. Before that, last execution was carried out on December 27, 2002, when three men were hanged at the Kajang prison.
On December 18, 2007 Malaysia voted against the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.