Gerakan backs mandatory death penalty abolition, but not for all crimes

Gerakan agrees that the mandatory death penalty should be abolished with regard to drug-related cases and discretion given to the trial judge.

However, party secretary-general Mak Kah Keong (above) said in some other cases of violent crime, the death penalty is still relevant.

"We cannot use the same standard for all offences because every offence committed is different.

"The mandatory death penalty is still relevant for some extreme criminal cases.

"I would like to clarify that the abolition of the mandatory death penalty does not abolish the death penalty. That means the death penalty is still there but at the same time, the trial judge can choose whether the guilty party can be sentenced to death or imprisoned," said Mak in a statement.

He said the party has received much feedback from netizens, family members of the victims and other citizens regarding the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.

"Most of them want to maintain the mandatory death penalty for some offences," he said.

Court to decide

On Friday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced that the government has agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty.

In a statement, he said Putrajaya decided to substitute the mandatory provision with other types of punishment that would be decided by the court.

The decision was reached after Wan Junaidi presented to the cabinet on Wednesday a report titled “Study on Substitute Punishments To Mandatory Death Penalty”.

Today, he said that there were currently 1,342 inmates whose death sentences are put on hold by a moratorium and that the government would study whether its plan to abolish the mandatory death penalty can be implemented retroactively.

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