The Malaysian Substance Abuse Council (Masac) has mooted removing the criminal records of former drug traffickers who have been free of the substance for five consecutive years to enable them to get a second shot at life.
The suggestion was made by the NGO's secretary-general Raja Azizan Suhami today in welcoming the government's move to abolish the mandatory death penalty, including for some drug-related offences, yesterday.
"Masac hopes for amendments to the criminal records of former drug offenders, namely drug traffickers who have stopped dabbling in the trade and remained clean for five consecutive years.
"Their names should be cleared from criminal records, which would give them a second shot at securing a job - an option that is very limited for those who have been imprisoned for drug-related offences," Raja Azizan said in a statement.
By exempting former drug offenders from the "blacklist", the government would be doing a favour to thousands of former offenders in the country, he added.
Masac, which was established in 2016, is a coalition of more than 60 NGOs and private rehabilitation centres which carry out programmes and activities pertaining to substance abuse.
Yesterday, the Dewan Rakyat passed the abolition of the mandatory death penalty by a voice vote, after it was tabled for a second reading by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh.
Under the abolition, judges are accorded the discretion to mete out appropriate sentences proportional to 11 serious crimes, which were previously punishable by mandatory death sentences.\
The "alternatives" could be the death sentence or up to 30 to 40 years of imprisonment, and whipping.
Gives new hope
Raja Azizan said with the abolition, offenders who previously had no choice but to claim trial for their offences due to the fear of capital punishment can now choose to admit to their offences with the hope of getting lighter sentences.
"The abolition can also help address overcrowding problems in prisons and cut the number of royal pardon requests to the state rulers and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
"In addition, it could also ease the workload of trial judges and the Appeals Panel at the Federal Court," he said.
Raja Azizan further welcomed the alternative of 30 to 40 years imprisonment, coupled with 12 lashes of the rotan as a step that would lead criminals to repent.
"It would allow inmates who have been proven of or admitted guilty to offences which previously carried the capital punishment, to join various rehabilitation programmes in prison - a privilege which was previously not accorded to convicts on death row.
"The prison can also utilise the death-row inmates' blocks by adding more inmates in their cells."
Raja Azizan noted that the lengthy imprisonment and the caning are also known deterrents, as former drug offenders the NGO had dealt with shared about the "traumatising" effects of the caning - so much so that they even fear committing traffic offences once they are out of prison.
"Masac thinks that a ceremony should be held, featuring the prime minister breaking the ‘key’ of a death-row inmate's cell at the Kajang prison, where all international media outlets should be invited to highlight Malaysia's commitment to judicial reforms," he said. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.