Rather than entirely abolishing the death penalty, the government opted for the less “drastic” step of removing the mandatory element to allow more time for public education.

Speaking at a townhall session in Universiti Malaya today, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Law Hanipa Maidin added that the move was in line with Pakatan Harapan’s GE14 manifesto.

“We don’t want to have a drastic abolishment of the death penalty because we feel that the people are not ready yet. ...