Parliament speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia appears to be supportive of the death penalty for drug traffickers.

However, at the same time, he seems to have admitted that the death penalty appears to have not much traction with drug traffickers.

Pandikar, in his speech for the closing ceremony of the 12th meeting of the Aipa fact-finding committee (Aifocom) on the drug menace, first pointed out how the penalty for major drug offences in several Asean countries was death.

And although he did not mention Indonesia in particular, his reference to the recent executions of eight drug smugglers there was obvious.

Two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were among those were executed. Reacting to their deaths, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the executions were 'cruel and unnecessary'.

Commenting on this  and on the reactions of several foreign leaders who had largely criticised Indonesia for going ahead with the executions, Pandikar said he simply did not agree with them.

"Because it seems that they don't respect the laws of that particular country.

"Why is it when countries take serious action, other countries who seem to support their efforts (in combating drugs) do not walk their talk?" he queried.

The Malaysian Parliament speaker, however, later said although Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have the death penalty for drug offences, drug-related offences were still occurring.

"We have that (the death penalty), yet it's still happening.

"It seems that drug traffickers are not frightened of death," he quipped.

MPs and executive should work together

Going further, Pandikar also cited another issue- human trafficking ( photo ) - which he believes was 'equally challenging and mind-boggling'.

"For human and drug trafficking, if there are no concerted efforts and political will from the government and leaders like us (MPs), all that remains is that we only talk and deliberate in conferences like this.

"We must be serious about this," he said, adding that as Parliament speaker, he constantly urged MPs to talk about such issues.

"Whenever an MP talks about such an issues, as the Speaker, I let them talk openly," he said, pointing out that MPs do not represent the executive.

Pandikar explained the role of MPs in such conferences was to complement the work of the executive. Nevertheless, he reminded the delegates present to not go beyond the 'imaginary boundary'.

"Because the executive has the power to execute whatever the people have given them the mandate to.

"Our job is just to complement their efforts," he said.

He also acknowledged that without the support of MPs, the executive could not carry out their functions.

Stating that the executive were 'appreciative' of their efforts, Pandikar said this was based on the impression he had received from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"This is the impression I got from the prime minister after I delivered the message of Aipa.

"He said contributions from the parliaments of Asean countries was most welcome," said Pandikar.