In a last-ditch effort to save the life of the death row inmate Kho Jabing, the three bar associations of Malaysia have submitted a letter pleading for clemency to Singapore President Tony Tan.

In the letter, the Advocates Association of Sarawak, the Sabah Law Association, and the Malaysian Bar asked for Kho’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

They argued that the decision on whether Kho should live or die should not depend on the collective decision of a majority of judges, and pointed out that some of the Singaporean judges that have presided over the case have expressed doubt on whether Kho intended to kill.

“The fact that learned judges of Singapore have expressed doubts that Kho Jabing exhibited sufficient mens rea or intention to commit the crime of murder should, in and of itself, give rise to concerns whether Kho Jabing should be made to pay the ultimate price for his crime and be sentenced to hang.

“If there is any doubt at all about his level of intention, and there genuinely is, that doubt must be resolved in Kho Jabing’s favour,” says the letter signed by the presidents of the three associations, Leonard Shim, Brenndon Soh, and Steven Thiru.

“The death penalty is an irreversible punishment. Once taken, Kho Jabing’s life cannot be returned to him or his family,” the letter cautioned.

The letter was handed to the Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Gopala Menon today by Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chairperson Andrew Khoo, on behalf of the three associations.

Speaking to reporters outside the Singapore High Commission building in Kuala Lumpur later, Khoo said the high commissioner has agreed to relay the contents of the letter to the Singaporean government.

Kho, 31, is a Malaysian citizen from Sarawak who is now being held at Changi Prison, Singapore.

He was convicted of murder in 2010 and was given the mandatory death sentence, but was re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane when the Singaporean government reviewed its death penalty laws in 2012.

'Wrong in principle'

On Jan 14 last year, however, the Singaporean Court of Appeal reportedly reimposed the death penalty in a unanimous decision, following an appeal by the prosecution.

He is slated to hang on Friday, which is also reportedly the birthday of one of his two sisters.

Meanwhile, lawyer Khoo told reporters that the Malaysian Bar is opposed to mandatory sentencing – be it a jail or a death sentence – and the death sentence itself.

He said mandatory sentencing takes away the discretion of judges to decide what should be the appropriate punishment for the cases they presided, and this appears to be creeping into Malaysia’s own statute books.

“It is wrong in principle. After all, we train our judges and we rely on their experience to mete justice, and justice cannot be served by mandatory sentencing,” he said.

As for death sentencing, Khoo said it is wrong to respond to a killing by also taking the killer’s life, which in essence lowers a society to the offender’s standards.

He said the Malaysian government has already conceded that the mandatory death penalty does not deter crime, and hopes it would expedite the proposals for its repeal.

“Mandatory death sentences are on their way out; it is merely a question of when. They (the government) has made certain public commitments or public statements about reviewing it, and we urge the government to really expedite and finalise their proposals so that they can be presented to Parliament as soon as possible, so that we can end this idea of mandatory death sentences.

“We also hope they will realise that mandatory sentencing in itself is also wrong in principle,” he said.