PUTRAJAYA, June 13 — The Cabinet has yet to discuss if Malaysia will end the death penalty completely.
De facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the government needs to resolve the matter of the mandatory death penalty first and will cross the bridge after getting public feedback.
“I don’t want to pre-empt the public survey but usually the Cabinet is in agreement to try to reduce the number of people sentenced to death mandatorily. However, say more disagree than agree, we will rediscuss this matter,” he told a press conference here today.
“However, for now I don’t see anyone in the Cabinet against this.
“As for abolishing the death penalty entirely we haven’t discussed this in Cabinet yet,” he added.
Wan Junaidi also said the moratorium on convicts sentenced to death is still in effect so that justice is meted out properly even though there are some who may disagree with this decision.
He said it may be difficult to retract all the death sentences as some of the crimes were severe, adding that granting pardons were up to the discretion of the Rulers.
“If you ask if we will abolish the death penalty, I’ll say that since 1978 when I went to university I have disagreed with it,” he said, adding that in the United States, some 30 per cent of convicts sentenced to death have later been found to be innocent.
“There may be more baby boomers like me who have the same stance as me. So if there are many more of the young generation out there who think along the same lines as I do then maybe one day we will see the abolition of the death penalty,” he said.
