Before the debate commenced, participants viewed a documentary titled “Death in Dilemma: The Final Curtain”, produced and directed by Seira Sacha bt Abu Bakar and Khaizan Sharizad bt Abd Razak Dali, both members of BCHRC. The documentary was made possible with funding from the EU Delegation.
The documentary featured views by legal practitioners, human rights activists and scholars, as well as public opinion on the death penalty: some said that the death penalty is not a deterrent factor in crime reduction, and a moratorium should be put in place to determine if the crime rate would decrease without it. A couple of legal practitioners cited the allowance of capital punishment in Islam. However, one of them stated that capital punishment should be practised cautiously as the consequence of the death penalty is irrevocable. Referring to an instance in the Quran stating that only God is allowed to take life, the legal practitioner further explained that the concept of burden of proof in Islam is different from that in common law: in the latter, the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, but in Islam, the burden of proof is higher, as the case must be proved with utmost certainty and without a shadow of a doubt. The documentary concluded on a touching note, with the reading of a letter written by a death row inmate to his family member, and a statement that between 2000 and 2010 Malaysia had executed nine individuals sentenced to the death penalty.
In his welcoming speech, His Excellency Vincent Piket, the Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation, said that the abolition of the death penalty is a condition in the founding treaty of the EU, and is an important requirement imposed on states intending to join the EU. He stated that presently, abolitionist countries — which include countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Africa — have increased to 139, which goes to show that the abolition of the death penalty has taken place in nations with various religious backgrounds. The Ambassador went on to exemplify his statement with the following statistics: Asian countries that have abolished the death penalty include Cambodia, Hong Kong, Nepal, the Philippines and Timor Leste. Brunei has not carried out executions since 1997, while Indonesia and Thailand have not since 2010. As for Malaysia, public opinion still seems to favour the death penalty, and in 2010 alone, Malaysia sentenced 104 individuals to the gallows, although sentences far exceeded executions. The Ambassador applauded the bipartisan group set up in 2011 in the Malaysian Parliament, which calls for the introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty, and he expressed the EU’s support towards any effort to abolish the death penalty in Malaysia.