On a similar note, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri b Abdul Aziz, in his keynote speech, expressed his personal view that the death penalty should be abolished. He stressed that in order for him to propose this in Parliament, he would need solid support from Members of Parliament. While many Muslims still held on to the principle of “an eye for an eye”, the Minister stated that there are two other options to punish convicted murderers: one is payment of “blood money” to the victim’s family as compensation, and the other is forgiveness by sentencing the wrongdoer to life imprisonment. According to him, murder in Malaysia is an offence against the Government, and as such, the Government as an institution should forgive and commute death sentences to life sentences. He urged people who were for the abolition of the death penalty to come forward and voice their views to help change society’s overall mindset. He concluded by thanking the EU for being persistent in its efforts to abolish the death penalty in Malaysia.
A short question-and-answer session with the Minister ensued after his speech. Even then, he stressed time and again on the need for support from Members of Parliament, in order for him to propose a moratorium on the sentence. He also suggested that participants actively engage their Members of Parliament on this issue. On the need for a special human rights act in Malaysia, the Minister responded that the Federal Constitution is the basis for all human rights protection for the people of Malaysia and there was no need for such an act.
The debate was moderated by Syahredzan Johan, the Chairperson of the Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee. Each debater was given seven minutes to argue, and points of information (“POIs”) were allowed. In the concluding session, a representative of each team was given four minutes to argue the team’s concluding points, with no POIs.
In arguing in support of the premise that capital punishment should be abolished in Malaysia, the UiTM team argued the following points:
(a) Right to life: life is valuable and a gift from God;
(b) The Government must show respect for life by not taking life;
(c) The death penalty is a violation of human rights: Malaysia is a democratic country and the right to life must be upheld;
(d) Laws of retribution and retaliation: punishment should be proportionate to the crime, and must not be barbaric. The death penalty is not a proportionate sentence.
(e) Life imprisonment is also a form of retribution: spending life in prison can create change within an individual. Nobody looks forward to going to prison and prison is not a luxury. Prisoners are deprived of freedom of movement and freedom of speech, but at least they are not deprived of the basic right to life;
(f) The principles of “an eye for an eye” and blood vengeance are not consistent with a democratic state like Malaysia;
(g) The death penalty is not a deterrent to crime as people will continue committing serious crimes as long as they are not caught;
(h) The Government must guide its citizens towards a progressive mindset;
(i) The death penalty perpetuates the cycle of violence: there is no justification for murder and the same applies to the State; and
(j) Possibility for human errors in the justice system: over 100 individuals on death row in the United States were found not guilty after new evidence was discovered.