Former MACC advisory panel member Robert Phang (above, fourth from left) has planned a series of discussions around Peninsula Malaysia to engage the public on the Pakatan Harapan government’s move to abolish the death penalty.
Beginning in Kuala Lumpur today, he and his team will head to Johor Bahru and Penang in the next month.
Following which, they will submit a petition to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad calling for the death penalty to be maintained.
Phang said the government, especially de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong, had failed to thoroughly seek public opinion before arriving at a cabinet decision to remove the death penalty for 32 offences and replace them with a minimum 30 years imprisonment.
“Liew said this has gone through the cabinet. If this has gone through the cabinet [...] have they or the government thrown (the idea) out to us rakyatto find out whether (we think) abolishing the death penalty is good or bad?
“The government must listen to the people’s voice [...] if they don’t want to treasure the people’s voice, soon five years will come and you can exercise your vote to decide whether to continue to vote for this government or not,” he told a press conference at an event entitled 'We Oppose the Abolition of Death Penalty'.
Liew previously said the 32 offences included murder, the Firearms (Heavier Penalties) Act 1971, Firearms Act 1960, Kidnapping Act 1961 and Armed Forces Act 1972, Water Services Industries Act 2006, Strategic Trade Act 2010 and Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Families of murder victims have rights too
Also present today were family members of several murder victims. They contended that the government had not considered their pleas for the death penalty to be maintained.
Tan Siew Lin (photo, second from left), whose teenage daughter Annie Kok was raped and murdered in their family home in Bentong back in 2009, was too distraught to speak during the press conference.
“I am completely against it (the move to abolish the death penalty). This is not fair to us.
“The government should listen to what we want,” Tan told the media afterwards.
Similarly, Sim Yee Ling, whose teenage daughter Ng Yuk Tim was murdered in 2013, contended that the human rights of families of murder victims ought to be respected as well.
“We are very disappointed, the new government has many things to do and this is not a priority.
“[...] I hope the government listens to us. As the family of murder victims, we are not a big group but we have human rights too,” Sim told the media.
This was in response to parties calling capital punishment to be abolished as to observe the rights to life of offenders.
Not representing MCA
During the event, a group dressed in navy blue T-shirts held up a multi-lingual banner saying “death penalty is necessary” and led the 200-odd audience in several chants.
Among the group were MCA’s GE14 candidate for Damansara Ryan Ho (photo, fourth from left) and the party’s candidate for the recent Balakong by-election Tan Chee Teong (photo, third from left).
Emcee and co-organiser Kua Sok Hwa later clarified that the group did not represent the event or the organisers, stressing that the day’s event was not political in nature.
Asked afterwards, both Ho and Tan denied they were representing the BN component party but a Kluang-based NGO called Persatuan Kebajikan Kasih Sayang.
“We are just here supporting the cause,” Tan told Malaysiakini.
They then proceeded to KLCC to collect signatures for the above-mentioned petition calling for the death penalty to be maintained.
Source :https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/452671
No comments:
Post a Comment