One of the headlines today in a local newspaper besides “Bird Flue spreads to Penang” is whether the practice of death penalty should be abolished.
This issue of law has always been twisting in my mind for a couple of years now. During my time in England, I ponder over this question seriously because as a Christian, I do not think we have the rights to determine one’s life. I still remember the reason why we need to wear robe, wig and so on as a lawyer in Courts. It is all because as a human being, we shouldn’t judge each others even if they have sin against people and against God. This is biblical. Therefore, I always think what England does is correct in abolishing the death penalty.
However, I found something so different in Malaysia. I was asked to mitigate for accuses (most of them drug addicts and murderer) during my pupillage. Most of the time, I found they were not remorseful. They feel ‘happy’ to be able to be trial in the courts. They don’t feel shameful or they LOVE it. The public awareness or rather, the awareness of the issue of crime or wrongdoing is not among the Malaysian. As one of the accountant said in the newspaper that the most effective way to a crime shouldn’t be “what sorts of punishment” but it should be good education.
If abolishing the death penalty in Malaysia need to be discussed, I shall ask you to join me to think of one question. What should be the heaviest sentence if death penalty is to be abolished? May I just invite you to let your mind wander for a while to the well known Mona Fandey case (the Bomoh & murder case). I am just wondering what sorts of penalty we could impose on her if we abolish the death penalty. Is life imprisonment good enough to bring the awareness to the public? What about if someone waging or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the Ruler? I am not talking about the context in England, but about Malaysia TODAY.
As I was reading this book which was lent to me by a friend who just came back from England titled: Law: some Christian Perspectives, edited by Jo Cundy, I learned about how much different the Legal Process is between England and Malaysia. I believe there are more people, especially Christian in England who are God-fearing compare to us here in Malaysia. I am not saying we don’t. Some of us do. I know. But some of us do have the typical Malaysian thinking/culture. For example, I found it interesting how ignorance most of the Malaysia are towards the law in Malaysia. To most of the Malaysian, unless we need to deal with it, otherwise, we don’t want to know about it. For example, not many among us know what is entering into contract until the contract is BREACHED and not when the contract is ENTERED. Another good example would be we only interested to find out more about car insurance once we were involved in an accident, despite the fact that we are driving a car for years, since we attained the age of 17. Isn’t this ridiculous? See, that’s what I call a typical Malaysian mentality.
At the same time, if we claim that exercising death penalty is barbaric, inhumane and insufficient deterrent, well, I guess the ‘normal procedure’ is that we, the 3rd world country let the 1st world countries to deal with this issue first. As war is still happening in the world, how many of us can call ourselves not a barbaric and not an inhuman?
Don’t catch me wrong… I am not saying I agree that death penalty should stay. After all, we need not discuss this issue if no one commits a crime. What I am saying is we should think wisely when we decide something (especially the legal body) and be aware that different law imposed to a different country for a different purpose. I let the higher authority to decide on that.
To be very honest, I am not concern about the law in Malaysia. I am more concern on the law enforcement in Malaysia because it seems to me that we do not have enough policemen in this country. Do you not think this is more urgent to attend to then abolish or not abolish the death penalty?
This issue of law has always been twisting in my mind for a couple of years now. During my time in England, I ponder over this question seriously because as a Christian, I do not think we have the rights to determine one’s life. I still remember the reason why we need to wear robe, wig and so on as a lawyer in Courts. It is all because as a human being, we shouldn’t judge each others even if they have sin against people and against God. This is biblical. Therefore, I always think what England does is correct in abolishing the death penalty.
However, I found something so different in Malaysia. I was asked to mitigate for accuses (most of them drug addicts and murderer) during my pupillage. Most of the time, I found they were not remorseful. They feel ‘happy’ to be able to be trial in the courts. They don’t feel shameful or they LOVE it. The public awareness or rather, the awareness of the issue of crime or wrongdoing is not among the Malaysian. As one of the accountant said in the newspaper that the most effective way to a crime shouldn’t be “what sorts of punishment” but it should be good education.
If abolishing the death penalty in Malaysia need to be discussed, I shall ask you to join me to think of one question. What should be the heaviest sentence if death penalty is to be abolished? May I just invite you to let your mind wander for a while to the well known Mona Fandey case (the Bomoh & murder case). I am just wondering what sorts of penalty we could impose on her if we abolish the death penalty. Is life imprisonment good enough to bring the awareness to the public? What about if someone waging or attempting to wage war or abetting the waging of war against the Ruler? I am not talking about the context in England, but about Malaysia TODAY.
As I was reading this book which was lent to me by a friend who just came back from England titled: Law: some Christian Perspectives, edited by Jo Cundy, I learned about how much different the Legal Process is between England and Malaysia. I believe there are more people, especially Christian in England who are God-fearing compare to us here in Malaysia. I am not saying we don’t. Some of us do. I know. But some of us do have the typical Malaysian thinking/culture. For example, I found it interesting how ignorance most of the Malaysia are towards the law in Malaysia. To most of the Malaysian, unless we need to deal with it, otherwise, we don’t want to know about it. For example, not many among us know what is entering into contract until the contract is BREACHED and not when the contract is ENTERED. Another good example would be we only interested to find out more about car insurance once we were involved in an accident, despite the fact that we are driving a car for years, since we attained the age of 17. Isn’t this ridiculous? See, that’s what I call a typical Malaysian mentality.
At the same time, if we claim that exercising death penalty is barbaric, inhumane and insufficient deterrent, well, I guess the ‘normal procedure’ is that we, the 3rd world country let the 1st world countries to deal with this issue first. As war is still happening in the world, how many of us can call ourselves not a barbaric and not an inhuman?
Don’t catch me wrong… I am not saying I agree that death penalty should stay. After all, we need not discuss this issue if no one commits a crime. What I am saying is we should think wisely when we decide something (especially the legal body) and be aware that different law imposed to a different country for a different purpose. I let the higher authority to decide on that.
To be very honest, I am not concern about the law in Malaysia. I am more concern on the law enforcement in Malaysia because it seems to me that we do not have enough policemen in this country. Do you not think this is more urgent to attend to then abolish or not abolish the death penalty?
- just my opinion -
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