Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says Putrajaya respects the judicial independence of other countries.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim stressed that Malaysia has always respected the due process and judicial independence of the respective countries when its citizens face legal proceedings abroad, including in Singapore.
Anwar, who is in Singapore for the 12th Singapore-Malaysia Annual Leaders’ Retreat, said Malaysia remains firm in its position against drug offences, even as the country has amended laws related to mandatory death sentences.
“The drug menace is a problem in Malaysia. We have traditionally taken a very strong stance, although we have amended the issue of mandatory death sentence,” Bernama reported him as saying during a joint press conference with his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong.
Anwar said any representation made by Malaysia for its citizens facing Singaporean law is merely to convey the concerns of affected families and should not be misconstrued as tolerance for drug offences.
“In no way am I giving any indication that we are tolerating or condoning the drug trade. We also take a very strong stance against it,” he said.
Wong said Singapore’s anti-drug policy was aimed at ensuring a safe environment where families and children remained protected from the dangers and social consequences of drugs.
“We hope all countries understand the rationale for our strong stance and respect the way we conduct our policies on this front,” he said.
Both Anwar and Wong reaffirmed Malaysia and Singapore’s commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation, including under existing frameworks aimed at combating cross-border drug trafficking and related criminal networks.
Earlier, the two leaders witnessed the exchange of several memoranda of understanding, including on cooperation in combating drug trafficking between the home ministries of both countries. - FMT
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