Dewan Rakyat passes bill to abolish mandatory death penalty

The bill was unanimously passed through a voice vote. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat has unanimously passed a bill to abolish the mandatory death penalty through a voice vote.

The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023, tabled for its second and third reading by deputy law and institutional reform minister Ramkarpal Singh, proposed to give judges discretionary powers in sentencing.

The bill also gives judges the option to impose jail terms of up to 40 years in place of the mandatory death penalty.

Ten MPs had taken part in the debate on the bill.

Ramkarpal said it was crucial to abolish the mandatory death penalty in favour of alternative sentences as the death penalty was “irreversible”.

“The death penalty has not brought the results it was intended to bring,” he said when winding up the debate in the Dewan Rakyat.

“We must have confidence in the judiciary to exercise their discretion in a fair manner.”

According to Ramkarpal, the government also sought the views of family members of murder victims before arriving at the decision to abolish the mandatory death penalty.

He explained that former chief justice Richard Malanjum, who led a special committee for the study of alternative punishment to the Mandatory Death Penalty in 2020, had reached out to the victims’ families as well.

“The government did not just seek the opinion of only one side, but from both sides – the pro-abolishment and the anti-abolishment groups – in making this decision,” he said.

“This decision also considered other factors such as the principle of proportionality, which is whether the death penalty sentence is proportionate with the crime committed, the human rights of the offender and whether restorative justice will be achieved.”

Ramkarpal reiterated that the abolishment of the mandatory death penalty does not mean the total abolishment of the death penalty as the punishment remains for 11 offences.

On other matters, Ramkarpal said the government is studying the “diyat”, which is a form of compensation given to the families of victims following a serious offence under Islamic law. - FMT