Kasthuri Form Death Penalty Re Sentencing Council Abolish Whipping

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DAP deputy secretary for international affairs Kasthuri Patto has lauded the coalition government over the re-sentencing of seven death penalty inmates but called on the administration not to stop there.
In a statement today, Kasthuri said that it is time to set sentencing guidelines, form a sentencing council and abolish whipping once and for all.
"The re-sentencing decision made on seven death row inmates by the three-member panel led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat who presided in the Federal Court two days ago was received well, especially by the families of the inmates.
"It is a historic and landmark decision on how Malaysia sees herself as a nation that has abolished a decades-old colonial law – the death penalty - and emerged as a defender of human rights.
"After the Madani government abolished the mandatory death penalty for 11 offences in April 2023, it came into effect in September 2023 and then began the applications for re-sentencing of death row inmates in Malaysia which is more than 1,000 to date,” said Kasthuri, who served two terms as Batu Kawan MP from 2013 to 2022.
"With a re-sentencing guideline in place, the next is for the government to focus on setting up a re-sentencing council for greater check and balance and for the council to act independently without fear or favour in strengthening the criminal justice system," she added.
In the past, Malaysia had 11 offences that carry the mandatory death penalty and 22 other offences that carry discretionary use of this capital punishment, bringing the total of death penalty offences to 33.
Malaysia has had a moratorium on carrying out executions since 2017 and Kasturi lauded the re-sentencing of death penalty offences as a valiant and progressive move by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Azalina Othman Said and her deputy Ramkarpal Singh.
Azalina announced earlier this week that seven prisoners on death row for drug distribution had their death sentences reviewed under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023 (Act 847).
The life terms of four other prisoners were also reviewed under the same Act, and Azalina said that the reviews were carried out at the Federal Court after the review mechanism was agreed to by the cabinet.
"As this is still in its infancy and the litmus test was first carried out on Tuesday, the best way forward is to produce re-sentencing guidelines for the benefit of judges and also the deputy public prosecutor so it can be applied with transparency, accountability and integrity to uphold the rule of law and the sanctity of the Malaysian judicial system," said Kasthuri.
Azalina Othman SaidShe pointed to similar developments in the United Kingdom, saying that it took experts, activists, lawmakers, lawyers and judges to come up with re-sentencing guidelines and 10 years to set up a council.
"Malaysia doesn’t need to wait that long to come up with progressive guidelines that will echo the vision, hearts and minds of esteemed and learned judges.
"The UK model can be used as a guide to forming Malaysia’s sentencing council that will cater to the wants and needs of justice, the rule of law and the nation at large. The council will further serve to maintain the independence of the judiciary while persevering consistency," she said.
‘No more whipping’
Kasthuri also pleaded with the government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to seriously look into abolishing whipping as a form of punishment for inmates.
"Whipping, like the death penalty, is a colonial law and was meant to demean and dehumanise one and was used by the colonisers on Malayans back in the day when they didn’t do as they were told, didn’t follow instructions and as a form of a faux punishment.
"When Pakatan Harapan was in Government, there was a move to sign and ratify the Uncat (United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment) but it did not take off as many had hoped for," she recalled.
The issue of whipping surfaced most recently when former minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was sentenced to seven years in jail, two strokes of the rattan, and slapped with an RM10 million fine.
He was found guilty of four charges involving criminal breach of trust (CBT), misappropriation of property and money laundering linked to RM1.12 million of Bersatu Youth funds.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul RahmanKasthuri argued that whipping has always been seen as power and control of the mighty over the helpless and vulnerable more than as a deterrent.
"Slave drivers used whipping on slaves who were given worse treatment than animals to show them who is the master and who they are.
"Domestic violence abusers use physical punishment to assert pain and impose control over their partners, violent individuals use violence to reign in aggressive animals, rogue police officers used unwarranted force and even physical abuses that have led to custodial deaths in the name of extracting information from the accused and sadists use it as a means to subjugate and dominate one like a slave.
"In Malaysia where whipping, with a cane, is still used on inmates for certain offences, the effectiveness comes into question. The same goes with the death penalty if it is indeed a deterrent or not," she said.
She asked if Malaysia as a progressive, developed and civilised nation should maintain this barbaric and archaic form of punishment as retribution.
"I urge the government to revisit its once-upon-a-time initiative to sign and ratify the Uncat, using it as a benchmark and keeping abreast with international standards on moving away from torture and cruel punishments, punitive and retributive and moving towards rehabilitative and restorative justice," she added. - Mkini

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