KUCHING: The Sarawak Patriot Association (SPA) has welcomed the federal government’s move to abolish the mandatory death sentence like what has been done in 108 other countries.
Its chairman Datuk Dr John Lau Pang Heng said Malaysia is one of the countries in the world that still retains the mandatory death sentence.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Jaafar had earlier said that the federal government has agreed to abolish the mandatory death sentence .
He stated that the death sentence being mandatory will be substituted with a sentence left to the discretion of the court.
“A phone survey of 100 participants in Kuching city by our team of researchers revealed that 55 per cent of them felt it is good news to abolish the mandatory death penalty,” said Lau.
“We need to leave it to the court’s discretion whether to impose a maximum fine or jail sentence or the death penalty,” he added.
