COMMENTARY, Nov 14 — Among the many things that have happened since May 9, one made me particularly happy: The government’s announcement in October that the death penalty will be abolished.

I don’t remember when it happened, when I first realised that I was against capital punishment.

Maybe it was when I first found out that prisoners spend many years on Death Row before they are finally executed. Or maybe it was when I read about how innocent people are not only jailed but sometimes executed.

So, yes, I was super proud of us as a country when it was announced we would be doing away with the death penalty.

In 2017, Guinea and Mongolia did away with the death penalty for all crimes. Now is our turn.

Since then I have watched in dismay as the government walked back on this decision. Yesterday, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong announced that the Cabinet has decided the death penalty for 33 offences will be abolished.

Not a blanket abolition but one that has limits. Why?

Some observers say it is because some crimes are so heinous, only the death penalty will do. Others mention that the families of those murdered need to see justice done.

Even lawmaker Ramkarpal Singh who once advocated for the abolition changed his mind after the recent brutal death of a nine-month-old baby.

But the idea behind the abolition of the death penalty is not that complex really: All lives are sacred and the taking of a life — for whatever reason — simply cannot be justified.

There is no data to show that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than, say... a jail term.

This circle of violence must be broken.

I commend the government for wishing to get public feedback on this issue but they got it right the first time. Abolish the death penalty.

"All executions violate the right to life. Those carried out publicly are a gross affront to human dignity which cannot be tolerated,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Killing someone because he/she killed someone is not right.

We must be better.