12, Oct 2018

Malaysia will abolish the death penalty, the New York Times reported. The country’s minister of law, Liew Vui Keong, told reporters, “All death penalty will be abolished. Full stop”. Malaysia’s government is also set to revoke the Sedition Act, a law dating back to the colonial era that has previously been employed against critics and politicians of the opposition. “The decision was made by the cabinet yesterday that since we are going to abolish the Sedition Act, action under that act should be suspended temporarily,” Malaysia’s communications and media minister Gobind Singh told journalists on Thursday, October 11. Malaysia’s parliament is likely to discuss legislation regarding both the death penalty and the sedition law in coming weeks. Around 1,200 people are on death row in the country, the majority for drug-related crimes.