PUTRAJAYA must table the bill to abolish the death penalty before the end of the current Parliament session next week to prove that it is not backtracking on its earlier decision, said Lawyers for Liberty.

The group’s advisor, N. Surendran, said the Pakatan Harapan administration would appear weak if it backtracked on the decision to do away with the death penalty.

“We hope that there will be no backtracking or compromise in the government’s decision to totally abolish the death penalty.

“If the government now changes position on this, it will be seen to weak, indecisive and untrustworthy. Another ‘u-turn’ will be devastating for public confidence in the new government,” he said in a statement today.

The former Padang Serai MP from PKR said despite the recent assurance of de facto law minister Liew Vui Keong that the death sentence would be scrapped for 33 offences, no bill to that effect had been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

“No such bill has even appeared yet in the parliamentary order paper, whether in the list for first reading or in the orders of the day. This is a grave cause for concern as the current session of the Dewan Rakyat will end by next week,” he said.

“We urge the cabinet to direct the minister in charge to table the bill in the Dewan Rakyat at least by December 10, which is international human rights day.

“This would be a fitting present to the Malaysian people, who voted for justice, the rule of law and the upholding of human rights on May 9,” said Surendran.

He also said there were many leaders in the cabinet who had previously publicly campaigned for human rights and the end to cruel and unfair procedures and punishments.

He reminded them not to forget the ideals they had fought for when they were in the opposition or their oft-repeated commitment to uphold human rights.

The government recently lifted a moratorium on several unpopular security laws such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA), the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) and the Sedition Act.

The move was said to allow authorities to deal with the chaos that broke out at a Hindu temple early last week. – December 4, 2018.