Overjoyed by Yasin’s release, frustrated by lack of drug law reforms

 Why have we still not moved to update our laws?

From Martin Vengadesan

I was greatly relieved to learn that singer and composer Yasin Sulaiman was discharged from Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta after almost four years.

I hope that the announcement by his friend and former band member, Akbar Azmi, on Wednesday is the final word on the matter as he has suffered enough.

In August 2024, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced Yasin to life imprisonment and 16 strokes of the cane over three drug offences. Fortunately, the Court of Appeal acquitted and discharged him in April 2025 after medical reports and psychiatric evaluations confirmed he had bipolar disorder.

Yasin is an incredible talent and his wonderful song, Reformasi, is deeply inspiring to those of us in the movement.

While I am very happy that he is free to return home to his family, I remain saddened and disappointed that very little has changed despite all the discussion about drug law reforms, and draconian punishments remain on the books.

That’s why Yasin received that heavy life imprisonment sentence for possessing 17 cannabis plants at a time when parts of the world have turned it into a lucrative industry.

The heavy drug penalties we have for drug trafficking very often fall on drug users and drug mules, not the middlemen and certainly never the cartel kingpins. One thing is certain: the existing policy is a failure.

I know we have made some progress after Dr Ganja, whose real name is Amiruddin @Nadarajan Abdullah, escaped the gallows in July 2023, after spending years on death row.

Earlier this year, former ambassador Zainal Abidin Alias and his son were also acquitted and discharged of charges related to drug trafficking and the cultivation of cannabis plants at a house in Janda Baik, Pahang, in 2022.

Engineer Lukman Mohamad, whom I had written about when he was initially 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 or THC, was also freed in March 2021.

Lukman, who has rebuilt his life, even 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 are still held back by draconian laws.

And therein lies the rub: why have we still not moved to update our laws? Are we planning to leave things in limbo, as we have about completely abolishing the death penalty and ending child marriage? - FMT

Martin Vengadesan, a former editor, currently serves as a strategic communications consultant to the communications ministry.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT