PETALING JAYA: An eye for an eye, a life for a life. That would aptly describe the law’s stand on murder in Malaysia. Nothing short of the death penalty is acceptable for taking another person’s life. Here, capital punishment is meted out for crimes other than murder as well. They include offences such as treason, possession of firearms and drug trafficking. But detractors are concerned that a wrongful conviction, if carried out, is irreversible. There is also concern over the psychological impact on the family of those on death row. In Malaysia, there have been numerous calls over the years for the death penalty to be abolished. Amnesty International Malaysia, which has been campaigning against the death penalty in the past four decades, says that in this country, capital punishment has been imposed for crimes that do not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold under international law. Its executive director Shamini Darshni says one example is drug trafficking, for which the death penalty is mandatory. “Firstly, it is against international law. Then, we also fall behind countries such as Singapore where capital punishment has been reviewed in recent years. Malaysia has also long flouted international standards on transparency where the death penalty is concerned, refusing to release figures on executions to the general public,” she tells Focusweek. “Why the secrecy? If the country is confident that imposing capital punishment is the right way to go, why keep the number of executions a secret?” she asks. According to Amnesty International’s Death Sentences and Executions Report 2014, which was released in April, 22 countries that still mete out the death penalty do so in response to “real or perceived threats to state security and public safety posed by terrorism, crimes or internal instability”. On the other hand, she argues, the death penalty has not shown itself to be a greater deterrent compared with other forms of punishment. Several interest groups have voice their opposition to capital punishment, citing various reasons why it should be banned. The Bar Council describes it as a barbaric form of punishment “inflicted by the state to legitimise the deprivation of human life”. “It is compounded in its cruelty by the prolonged and indefinite incarceration of the convicted person on death row. This uncertainty, coupled with the fear of the inevitable, is tantamount to psychological torture,” says its president Steven Thiru. In his speech at the Asian Regional Congress on the Death Penalty last month, Steven said there was no evidence that the death penalty served as an effective deterrent to the commission of crimes. In fact, there has not been a significant reduction in the number of offences for which the death penalty is mandatory. Shamini sees it as the “ultimate cruelty that the state can inflict upon a person”. She points out that the death penalty is absolute and “this is a scary thought given the possibility of a wrongful conviction and the incidence of botched executions that have occurred over the years”. She claims that if the death penalty is as good a deterrent as it is made out to be, society would now be free of the drug menace. She says that for the pro-death penalty advocates, the death penalty is just a simple solution to a problem, but it does not address the root causes of criminal activities. For all the arguments in favour of abolishing the death penalty, an overwhelming number of Malaysians are actually in favour of continuing with this form of punishment. In 2012, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and Universiti Malaya jointly conducted a survey to gauge public opinion on the death penalty. The survey found that 97.6% of respondents supported the death penalty in at least one scenario, suggesting that Malaysians are generally in favour of this form of punishment, according to Suhakam vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee. The survey showed that people believe the death penalty should be meted out on those who have committed more than one criminal act, repeat offenders and those who are guilty of heinous crimes, especially against women and children. They also believe that acts of terrorism also warrant the death sentence. However, the majority of those surveyed were of the view that the death penalty should not be imposed for drug-related offences, except in cases where there has also been a murder. Mitigating factors also played an important role in the overall response to the survey. Khaw says Suhakam has been campaigning for the abolishment of the death penalty since 2011. In the process, it has embarked on several awareness campaigns. For instance, in October 2011, the commission, together with the Bar Council and the European Union delegation were involved in a series of programmes that included public forums, debates and competitions involving members of the public and university students. As a continuation of this programme, Suhakam and its partners jointly organised the Dialogue with Members of Parliament on the Abolition of the Mandatory Death Penalty in Malaysia in 2013. The ultimate objective of this dialogue was to target specific MPs who were seen as key players in the campaign to return discretionary powers to the courts when it comes to handing down the death sentence. Khaw says that in the meantime, the government should consider a moratorium on the death penalty or commuting this form of punishment to life imprisonment especially for those who have been on death row for more than five years. - See more at: http://www.theantdaily.com/Main/Should-the-death-penalty-be-abolished-in-Malaysia#sthash.JN8SvaU1.dpuf