Charles Hector of Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture said many were concerned that the announcement by a minister recently that the mandatory death penalty would be abolished was simply a false promise.

“It is best that the prime minister speak up to assure Malaysians that this will happen before Parliament is dissolved and a new government comes into being following the next general election,” he said in a statement.

The group also requested the government to disclose the alternative sentences intended to be proposed in Parliament.

Hector asked that the recommendations of the special committee on alternative sentences to the mandatory death penalty be made known.

He cautioned that Putrajaya must also ensure that the alternative sentences should not come with rigid conditions, adding that Parliament should just set a maximum prison sentence and leave judges with full discretion to decide.

The group also demanded the total abolition of whipping, describing it as an inhumane corporal punishment.

On June 10, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced that Putrajaya had agreed to abolish the mandatory death penalty, and to give judges discretion in sentencing.

Wan Junaidi said the government had accepted in principle the recommendations of a special committee, chaired by former chief justice Richard Malanjum, to review alternative sentences to the mandatory death penalty.