Death Penalty in Malaysia – Time for Abolition Is NOW - presented at the Bar Council in 2011

1. Charles Hector
MADPET (Malaysians Against Death
Penalty & Torture)
easytocall@yahoo.com chef@tm.net.my

2. When Malaysia Hangs – We are
personally responsible
 And we hanged – no MURDERED 441 persons
since 1960 until March 2011
 And, 81 percent of them did not directly take
another human being’s life. (Murder – 78 or 18%)
 130 were killed because we choose to charge
them under the ISA, the only one that
provides for mandatory death penalty – and
not 2 other laws that could be used.
 228 were for drug trafficking

4. Malaysian Death Penalty (1960 – March 2011)
Executed Death Row
Drug 228 [52%] 479 [69%]
Trafficking
Firearms 130 [29%] 13 [2%]
Murder 78 [18%] 204 [29%]
Others 5 [1%]
TOTAL 441 696
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s reply to Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong’s question last
[i]
Thursday (31/3/2011) in Parliament - Free Malaysia Today, 3/4/2011, Time to abolish death sentence.

5. Malaysian Death Penalty (1980 -2005)
Statistical Breakdown of 234 out of 358 Executed
[i]
MALAYSIANS 184
Malays 48
Chinese 102
Indian 15
Others 19
FOREIGN NATIONALS 50
Thailand 7
Philippines 23
Singapore 4
Indonesia 2
Australia 1
Britain 1
Pakistan 1
Statistics from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was also Minister for
Internal Security, in response to a written question submitted in parliament. –
Malaysiakini, 3/2/2005, Gov't reveals execution statistics: 358 hanged in 24 years

6. Abolition of the Death Penalty is needed to
prevent the real possibility of depriving an
innocent person of life
“No criminal justice system is perfect. You
take a man’s life and years later, you find out
that another person did the crime. What can
you do?” - Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, Minister in the Prime Ministers
Department
“The law is the law but I wish Parliament
would abolish the death sentence because if a
mistake is made, it would be irreversible.irreversible
There are other ways of dealing with heinous
crimes,” - Datuk K.C. Vohrah, Former Court of Appeal judge

7. Factors that make wrongful
conviction a real possibility…
 Tunnel vision by the police and prosecutors
 Desire to win and not to ensure justice by prosecutors..
 Judges’ prejudice – belief that police and prosecutors are right &
accused are ‘guilty’
 Judicial system – fulfilling quotas, denial of the full right to mount a
defence – ‘irrelevance’, excluding witnesses, etc..
 Lack of capacity of accused to rebut presumptions and prejudices
 Lawyers (many do not conduct independent investigations and only
strive to rebut prosecution witnesses)
 ….and the list goes on…

8. So who wants the death penalty?
You?
Malaysians?
The Victims or their families?
Your religion?
Your moral values?
OR
Maybe no one…or not the majority of Malaysians
Because many really have not given much thought
about it OR maybe just do not have the required
information and arguments to make an informed
decision

9. Mandatory Death Sentence
 murder (sec. 302, Penal Code),
 drug trafficking (sec. 39B Dangerous Drugs Act 1952),
 unlawful possession of firearms (sec 57 Internal Security Act),
 the discharging of a firearm with intent to cause death or hurt
to any person, shall, notwithstanding that no hurt is caused
(sec. 3 Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971) while
committing the any of the following offences, being (a)
Extortion, (b) Robbery, (c) preventing or resisting by any
person, of his own arrest or the arrest of another by a police
officer or any other person lawfully empowered to make the
arrest, (d)Escaping from lawful custody, (e) Abduction or
kidnapping under sections 363 to 367 of the Penal Code and
section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961, or (f) House-breaking or
house-trespass under sections 454 to 460 of the Penal Code …
 …….

10. Drug Trafficking (sec 39B Dangerous Drugs Act) –
When the burden shifts from prosecutor to the
accused
Legal Presumptions:-
37(d) any person who is found to have had in custody or
under his control anything whatsoever containing any
dangerous drug shall, until the contrary is proved,
be deemed to have been in possession of such drug
and shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to
have known the nature of such drug; drug

11. Drug Trafficking (sec 39B Dangerous Drugs
Act) – When the burden shifts from
prosecutor to the accused *
37(da) any person who is found in possession of -(i)
15 grammes or more in weight of heroin;…(xxv)…
otherwise than in accordance with the authority of this
Act or any other written law, shall be presumed,
until the contrary is proved, to be
trafficking in the said drug

12. Drug Trafficking – 228 Hanged,
479 on death row
since 1960, 52% or 228 human
beings in Malaysia who were
hanged to death were for drug
trafficking, and 479 or 69% of
those currently in death row are
there for this offence.

13. Unlawful Possession of Firearms
– the choice to KiLL or sent to
Prison
Can charge under 3 laws, i.e.
 section 8 Arms Act 1960 - imprisonment for a term not
exceeding seven years, or to a fine..or both
 section 8 of the Firearms (Increased Penalty) Act 1971
-imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen
years and with whipping
 section 57 of the Internal Security Act – mandatory death
penalty
Since 1960, 130 were executed for
illegal processions of firearms, and
13 are on death row

14. Changing Perception about death
penalty
“…Malaysian lasses are an easy lot to charm. They are
easily smitten by sweet words and gifts, making them
an easy target for drug-trafficking syndicates looking
for mules…’ (Star, 1/11/2009, Malaysian girls easily
duped)
1,565 Malaysians jailed abroad and 60% of the cases were drug
mules… “Six in China have been sentenced to death. Since 2007,
about 30 Malaysians are in death row,”. - Star, 1/11/2009,
row
Malaysian girls easily duped

15. Malaysians FOR abolition of the
death penalty
 March 2006 – Malaysian Bar Resolution [ 82% of those present
and voting at the said Annual General Meeting voted in favour, with 2% voting against
and 16% abstaining]
 On 7/5/2006, an English local television program, Hello on Two,
which has an estimated audience of about 80,000, conducted a
phone-in poll, and the result was that 64% of persons that
responded were for the abolition of the death penalty.
penalty
 Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) is
against capital punishment. “…It is our hope that we
would be able to do away with this inhumane form of
punishment one day. Suhakam had recommended that the
Government consider placing a moratorium on capital
punishment with a view to abolishing it in the future…”
(5/2/2011)

16. Malaysians FOR abolition of the
death penalty
 The Malaysian government, by its actions has shown
that it is also against the death penalty – preferring
that it be commuted to life imprisonment, and it has
to be seen to be consistent in its stance also for
Malaysia – not just in situations of Malaysians facing
the death penalty in other countries
‘The Foreign Ministry sent a clemency appeal for
Malaysian Ong Kim Fatt who is on death row in China for
drug trafficking’, said its Deputy Minister Datuk Lee Chee
Leong. (Star, 24/4/2009, Govt asks that death row man be given life sentence instead)

18. In the name of humanity, justice
and human dignity, and in defence
of the principle that all life is sacred,
we call upon the Government of
Malaysia to abolish the death
penalty, and declare an immediate
moratorium on the carrying out of
all death sentences pending
abolition. – MADPET (Malaysians Against
Death Penalty and Torture)