Last year, Malaysia sentenced more than 114 people to death. This means that every week someone was told that he/she is to be hung by the neck till death. Today, Amnesty International releases our annual report on the death penalty titled ‘Death Sentences and Executions 2010'.
The report reveals that more than half of these death sentences have been imposed for drug related offences. We have heard too may excuses for retaining this archaic inhumane punishment and Amnesty International could give you many more reasons to remove this punishment from our legal system. But the most crucial reason is that no one should take away one of the most precious right we have – the right to life.
In 2007, an 18 year old Sabahan boy left his home and the mother he adored in what one can imagine being high spirits. After all, he had just celebrated his mother’s birthday and even managed to bring her an expensive gift to commemorate the day. Not bad for a boy with only a Standard 4 education.
He left for the city to resume his work hoping to provide a bright future for his family. Unfortunately for this boy, he had fallen into the wrong crowd. He was given a packet of drugs to carry over to Singapore for a price. Indeed he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but he never knew that the price he would have to pay would be his life.
In Singapore he was caught and sentenced to death. He refused to appeal against the sentence of death thinking that he would have to lie to save his neck. His naivety came to the attention of a lawyer who then took it upon himself to keep the boy from this ghastly fate. The boy’s name is Yong Vui Kong. Today, his life continues to hang in a balance. He is now 22 years young.
Then there is 26 year old Cheong Chun Yin who was convinced into thinking that he would be smuggling gold bars instead of drugs. Perhaps he should have had the presence of mind to check the bag first. However, trust can sometimes be blinding. After all, he said, ‘Since he [the person who had asked him to carry the luggage] had got his friend to smuggle gold, he is allowing me to do the same as he treats me as a friend.”
The above are not deliberately spun in a sympathetic light. Rather, they are the souls to the cold hard facts one reads in news and legal reports. The nature of the mandatory death penalty, judges are stripped of their discretion and forced to decide between an all or nothing ultimatum.
Furthermore, Malaysian laws are drafted in such a way that there is a heavy burden on the accused to prove innocence. It is a contradiction to international legal standards that stipulate that a person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Amnesty International’s 2010 report on death sentences and executions clearly reveal that there is a significant global trend that leans towards abolition of the death penalty.
In December 2010, the UN reiterated its commitment to the cause by passing a third resolution calling for a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishment. The resolution received more support than its two predecessors receiving 109 votes in favour compared to 106 votes in favour in 2008 and 104 in favour in 2007.
Illinois earlier this month became the 16th USA state to abolish the death penalty. In fact the USA as a whole has quite drastically reduced the number of death sentences meted out. Only 110 death sentences were passed last year, which represents a third of the amount handed down a decade ago.
In Malaysia, only one execution for the crime of murder was carried out in 2010. Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz on 9th November 2011 in Parliament acknowledged the redundancy of expanding the scope of the death penalty to rape given that the world is moving away from it. It becomes evident that Malaysia is fast realising that there is no relevancy to the death penalty in this time and age.
Time and time again, studies have revealed that there is indeed nothing to substantiate the claim that the death penalty deters crime. Contrary to that belief, a study revealed that since Canada abolished the death penalty in 1975, the crime rate has fallen by 45 percent in 2008.
Also, the FBI’s, ‘Crime in the United States 2007' showed that non death penalty states in the USA actually record lower crime rates than death penalty States. While it may be jumping the gun to draw the conclusion that not having the death penalty will reduce crime, the fact that there is no corresponding pattern between the death penalty as a deterrent remains unreconciled.
As Nelson Mandela stressed, crime does not vanish simply because the death penalty exists. The key to eradicating crime resides in ensuring the enforcement and implementation of laws.
Furthermore, one cannot deny the risks of wrongful execution. As recent as February 2011, Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan apologised to the family of Chang Kuo-jing for the wrongful execution of Kuo-jing for a crime he did not commit.
Between 1973 till 2009, the number of persons who have been exonerated in the USA is 139 people. The finality of death which is orchestrated by a fallible justice system is simple too big a risk to take in any civilised society.
The road to abolition requires courageous political leadership. Leadership which gives prominence to human rights and which speaks up in the defence of human rights. While there will be many who will vehemently oppose such a step, good governance require that a leader listens and acts on the voice of conscience.
In 2010, the ‘Save Vui Kong’ campaign managed to collect 109,346 signatures in Malaysia appealing to Singaporean President SR Nathan to spare Yong Vui Kong’s life. This is a clear indication that the people of Malaysia do not want to see blood being shed.
Europe with the exception of Belarus is virtually execution free, yet its legal systems have not collapsed. Malaysia has not been invoking capital punishment as fervently as other countries such as China, Iran, USA, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
If we can be moved to outrage over the extraction of information by way of torture, why do we allow a person to suffer the death penalty? Civilised societies need not resort to death threats to maintain order.
Malaysia has to abolish the death penalty.
Nora Murat is Executive Director of Amnesty International.
