SLS president Brenndon Keith Soh said as an organisation, the Sabah Law Society had always called for an end to capital punishment.
“The right to life is the fundamental right guaranteed under the Federal Constitution and it is not right that the same fundamental right to life be taken away,” he said to reporters after the opening ceremony for the society’s new building today.
He said the fact remains that despite having a mandatory death penalty, it has failed to deter drug offenders from committing the crime anyway.
“Statistics has shown that the real perpetrators, or drug lords, have almost always escaped punishment and only traffickers, or drug mules, were charged,” Soh said, adding that many times, these traffickers were simply victims of circumstances.
“Furthermore, putting these people to death would actually prevent any opportunity for them to reform and turn their lives around and maybe actually contribute to society.”
He said SLS welcomed the decision that discretion is now given to the courts on whether to impose the death penalty or not.
Singapore had also made a similar amendment to its laws on drug trafficking in 2012, allowing judges the discretion to not impose the death penalty on drug traffickers.
Meanwhile, Sabah Community Development and Consumer Affairs Minister and Malaysian Anti-Drugs Association (Pemadam) vice-president Jainab Ahmad Ayid said the amendment is long overdue.
According to her, the problem with most drug laws is the assumption that all drug traffickers, including drug mules, are guilty until proven innocent.
“We have heard of stories about women who became drug mules. Some of them did not even know they were carrying drugs in their bags.
“Many of them come from poor families and when given the chance to travel, of course they would take it. We have Malaysians rotting away in prisons overseas and some have already been executed for drug offences,” she said.
She added that this was why the state had spent lots of money to educate the public on the danger of drugs and the consequences of drug trafficking.
MP: Convicted traffickers must be allowed review of death sentence