Yasin's sentence: Drug reforms falling short

 

I was perturbed when singer and composer Mohamad Yasin Sulaiman was sentenced on Thursday by the Shah Alam High Court to life imprisonment and 16 strokes of the cane over three drug offences.

This was all the more confusing and upsetting because on Nov 29, 2023, Petaling Jaya Sessions Court judge Faiz Dziyauddin had acquitted and discharged the artiste on the three drug charges and ordered him to be placed at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Perak, at the pleasure of the Selangor sultan.

The biggest problem here is that we have talked a lot about drug law reform but very little has changed and we still have draconian punishments on the books.

That’s why Yasin (above) is getting life imprisonment for having in his possession 17 cannabis plants at a time when parts of the world have turned it into a lucrative industry.

I know that reforms come in small steps, but I can’t help feeling that the plodding attitude towards change is becoming a hallmark of the Anwar Ibrahim prime ministerial term.

Granted, we know that PKR and Pakatan Harapan don’t have a sweeping majority of their own, but there’s only so much disappointment your supporters can take.

Surely this is too much - you can’t have them languishing in jail because you didn’t make reforms happen fast enough?

I know there are lots of incessant complainants. Some are contrarians who whine about everything, others are disgruntled Mahathir fans like dogs in mangers. However, there are also valid reformers and advocates left stunned and disappointed because too little has changed in Madani Malaysia.

Don’t forget independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin, who like Yasin was also linked to Anwar’s PKR party. Earlier this year, he was released from Kajang prison after serving time over a 2014 sedition case linked to the Selangor sultan.

Wan Ji said he was driven to the verge of insanity from being placed in isolation for three months of a six-month sentence.

Independent preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin

Held back by draconian laws

To me, in such cases, the “new Malaysia” looks very much like the old. Once again, a strong attempt to reform or abolish the Sedition Act is a basic and reasonable request of the people willing to take to the streets to push for change.

Back to Yasin’s sentence. I had thought we were making progress when Dr Ganja… Amiruddin@Nadarajan Abdullah escaped the gallows after spending years on death row.

Engineer Muhammad Lukman Mohamad, whom I had written about when he was originally sentenced to death on Aug 30, 2018, under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for possession of 3.1 litres of cannabis oil, 279g of compressed cannabis and 1.4kg of substances containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was also freed in March 2021.

Lukman, who is rebuilding his life, wrote a poem expressing his sadness over Yasin’s sentence, citing the latter’s mental health issues and questioning the meaning of our country’s evolution if we were still held back by draconian laws.

Malaysia Society of Awareness president Muhammad Harish Kumar also said that punitive measures do not prevent drug addiction, which is a health issue.

“As we can see from many other criminal cases, when a person has mental health issues they are usually sent to Tanjung Rambutan or any hospital that can treat them.

“In Yasin’s case, I believe that (treatment) would have been the right solution so he can get proper treatment but unfortunately because of the existing law it fell to life imprisonment and caning,” he said.

One hopes this is not the end of the road for Yasin, or drug law reform.

Too often the temptation is to think... what is the difference… and one wonders if things will ever change.

Change happening too slowly

In the recent instance of three Malaysiakini journalists called up for questioning over an article, it was a bit more subtle.

During the BN era, Khairy Jamaluddin and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi often blocked and harassed Kini but this time it appeared that the police themselves were annoyed over an article about pending changes in the force.

To what extent is the PM culpable or is the deplorable Home Minister Saifuddin Ismail Nasution responsible? Is it purely petty vindictiveness from the police?

Regardless of whether the result looks similar to what had happened in the past, it’s easy to throw our hands in the air and say that nothing has changed. It’s not true really, but the steps forward are too few and too far between. - Mkini

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MARTIN VENGADESAN is associate editor at Malaysiakini.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT