I REFER to your editorial, “Moving away from death penalty” (NST, Nov 21). Let us just agree to disagree with the government’s proposal to do away with the mandatory death sentence.
As a member of the public, I would like to express my view on why the mandatory death penalty should not be abolished.
“Hang my daughter’s killer”, “I want justice for my brother’s death”, “Murderer deserved to be hanged”, “Nothing can justify beheading”, and the list goes on.
How often have we read such headlines in our newspapers when traumatised families have called for the murderers to be hanged for killing their loved ones?
At a time when the Islamic State (IS) is threatening peoples’ lives globally and we, too, have been shocked by several high-profile murder cases, the government has proposed to abolish the mandatory death penalty. I cannot see the rationale behind the move.
Can one imagine the trauma and suffering of victims’ families when their loved ones were murdered in cold blood, decapitated or their bodies cut into pieces, placed in an oil drum and sealed with cement, or their bodies burned and ashes thrown into rivers and lakes?
Do the perpetrators consider the anguish faced by loved ones before murdering their victims? Yet there are those who claim that everyone is entitled to the right to life. Are we saying that the criminal has the right to live after killing someone?
I feel that any sense of justice requires criminals to suffer for their crimes. Criminals should get what they deserve for their heinous crimes. That is why we have prisons and, in the case of murderers death row, and what their crime deserves is capital punishment.
Despite a survey that showed that a majority of Malaysians were in favour of the mandatory death penalty, the government is working towards amending the mandatory part of the death sentence in order to return discretionary powers to the courts.
Yet, we want to save the heads of these murderers on humanitarian grounds. May I say, “Spare the noose and spoil the murderer”. Without the mandatory death sentence, some senseless people will have no qualms about killing someone.
The death sentence is a “fear factor” that has long been a deterrent and criminals would think twice before committing premeditated murder. This is is evident where cases of murder are low such as in Saudi Arabia where, if the murderer is not pardoned by the victim’s family, he will be beheaded by the state in public.
Malaysian Bernard Then Ted Fen was recently beheaded IS-style by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines, and a local lorry driver severed the head of someone who picked a quarrel with him after an accident.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was shocked by Then’s murder and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman ordered the police from Malaysia and the Philippines to hunt the killers down and wipe them out. Even if the perpetrators are arrested, it would not satisfy the aggrieved family.
Remember that we have many more victims like Then who need to be protected. We need to seek justice not only for Then and his grieving family but also for other victims and their families.
The abolishment of the mandatory death sentence should be based on the consensus of the people before it is brought to Parliament for amendment.
Lawmakers, too, should reach a consensus. I agree with Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that the government should invite the public to express their views on the proposal (NST, Nov 20).
In Asean, with the exception of Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos still maintain the death penalty. The Philippines reinstated it in 1993, after abolishing it for 23 years, while last year, Myanmar President U. Thein Sein commuted all of the country’s death sentences to life imprisonment and there had been no known execution since.
In Malaysia, condemned prisoners are allowed to appeal against their conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and finally to the state or Federal Pardons Board, which is chaired in the states by the sultans and governors, and the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong in the Federal Territories. They have the power to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment or to grant a pardon and release the convicted prisoner.
Last month, the Sultan of Kelantan Sultan Muhammad V commuted the death sentences of six prisoners to life imprisonment and pardoned another prisoner.
Since Malaysia has such provisions, I see no reason why the government should not retain mandatory capital punishment as a deterrent. We should allow God, the courts and the Pardons Board to decide on the fate of those condemned for such crimes.
n NOR SHAHID MOHD NOR, Petaling Jaya, Selangor