Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong will pen a letter to the Singapore government asking it to commute Malaysian Prabu Pathmanathan's death sentence to life imprisonment.

“I just received the information this morning... Once verified, I will issues the letter to the Singapore government,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Asked what would happen if Singapore proceeded with the execution, he replied: “That will be a sad thing. I hope they won't.”

Liew said he would also discuss the issue with the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, Lawyers for Liberty advisor N Surendran urged Putrajaya to make “urgent and strenous” efforts to save Prabu from the gallows.

Since Malaysia has recognised the "barbarity of the death penalty" and announced its abolition, he said the government must do all it can to save citizens who are facing execution abroad.

According to Surendran, Singapore authorities had informed Prabu's family via a letter that he would be hanged at the Changi Prison on Oct 26.

"The family was only informed of the Friday hanging on Oct 20 via a letter from the Singapore Prison Services, which is less than one week's notice.

"In the same chilling letter, the family was asked to make the 'necessary funeral arrangements'," he said in a statement.

Surendran also claimed there were doubts concerning the conviction and noted that the vehicle in which drugs were found was driven by another person, and not Prabu.

Furthermore, he revealed that the confessions obtained against Prabu were extracted under duress.