No need for referendum on abolishing death penalty

THIS is a response to comments made by a former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor, reported by the media on Jan 15.

We refute the claim by Abdul Rahim that the government was hasty in its decision to abolish the death penalty. As early as 2010, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, the then de facto Law Minister, had publicly stated that the death penalty is not suitable for Malaysia. He recognised that Malaysia had an imperfect criminal justice system since there was a high risk of miscarriages of justice.