KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Government plans to abolish the mandatory death penalty for drug-related offences, said de facto law minister Nancy Shukri today.
She said a bill will be tabled in March next year which will allow judges to use their discretion to choose between sentencing a person to jail or a death sentence, such as in cases of drug related offences.
"What we are looking at is abolishing the mandatory death sentence. It is not easy to amend. We are working on it," she told a press conference after a roundtable discussion on the abolishment of the mandatory death penalty in Parliament today.
She added that Malaysia could get rid of the word 'mandatory' to allow judges to use their discretion in drug-related offences.
She said Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has shown his support of abolishing the death penalty and would propose to the Cabinet that the mandatory death penalty be scrapped.
Apandi had also said mandatory death sentences was a "paradox" as it robbed judges of their discretion to impose sentences on criminals.
A mandatory death sentence is imposed in Malaysia in cases involving murder, certain firearm offences, drug-trafficking and treason.
Nancy also said that at present there were a total of 1,022 convicts on death row.
Asked if she found death sentences effective to curb crime, Nancy said, "It doesn't help. We need to find other ways like education, motivation or something else."
She added that the removal of the mandatory death sentence did not mean that drug offenders would be free.
"They will face other sentences such as life (imprisonment)," she said.