Abolishing of death penalty is collective decision by Cabinet, says Liew

SHAH ALAM: The decision to abolish the death penalty is a collective one by the Cabinet, said Datuk Liew Vui Keong.

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said all the ministers would have to accept the decision.

"It is collective responsibility where all the Ministers would have to accept the decision made by the Cabinet.

"We have to be strong, united and stand firm on the decision that we already made," he said.

"At this stage, the decision made on Oct 10 to abolish the death penalty will still stand," the de facto law minister told reporters after a packed town hall session on the issue at UiTM Shah Alam on Wednesday (Nov 14).

He said he has spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on this earlier Wednesday who told him that the decision made by the cabinet was a collective one.

On Tuesday (Nov 13), Dr Wan Azizah said that the government will reconsider abolishing the mandatory death sentence for those convicted of murder.

When asked about child murder, Liew said that they would probably look at it again but not necessarily divert from the decision made.

He also said all those who committed murder would be imprisoned for a minimum of 30 years if not their natural life.

"They will have no opportunity of getting out of prison. We just want to keep them in prison," he said, adding that there would be no possibility of parole.

"The law is very clear, if you have committed a very serious crime. I have instructed the Pardons Board to look into the various prisoners on death row to see how severe the offences they committed were and decide if the prisoners will serve life in prison or 30 years," he said.

In October, Liew said that the Cabinet had decided to abolish the death penalty, with a moratorium for those on death row.

A proposed bill to abolish the death penalty is expected to be tabled at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting.

However, in a recent survey of 3,600 respondents conducted by The Star Online, almost half of Malaysians surveyed were against the Cabinet’s plan to abolish the death penalty.

About 45% felt the death penalty was needed to keep hardcore criminals at bay while 32% said it was still needed for violent crimes, especially crimes against children.