PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has lauded the announcement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) that Malaysia will abolish the mandatory death and whipping sentences by the year 2023.
The medical fraternity has been very concerned as to how certain individuals were subjected to mandatory death and whipping sentences when found guilty of the offences committed with no recourse to alternative sentencing taking into account the circumstances of the offence, its president Dr Koh Kar Chai said in a statement today.
“This is a welcome change which will allow the judges to apply their just decision on the cases being tried and to give a leeway to the learned judges to impose an appropriate sentence based on the circumstances of the crime.
“We also hope that the need for medical doctors to be involved at the time of capital punishment will eventually be phased out as it runs antithesis to medical ethics for a doctor to be a part of capital punishments though it is deemed necessary to certify that a person is fit to undergo the punishment being meted out,” he added.
