Harsh punishment not a 'magic bullet' to solve societal ills

SHAH ALAM - Harsh punishments like the mandatory death penalty are not "magic bullets" to solve societal ills.

Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Katrina Jorene Maliamauv said mandatory death penalty was not a deterrent.

“Actually, we had a really great moment to think a bit more imaginatively, think holistically, and understand how we can address what the root causes of the death penalty are.

“With this thinking, it gives us an easy way out to say that we are going tough on crime.

“A brain-hard stance would be to look at social factors that contribute to people being disenfranchised due to violent behaviour or drug use,” she said.

Maliamauv said this during Sinar Daily’s Wacana English Edition live show entitled “Working Towards Abolishing Mandatory Death Penalty” which was aired on all Sinar Daily and Sinar Harian digital platforms, last night.

She added that there were numerous possibilities as she knew people who have worked with formerly incarcerated people, people working on drug reforms and human rights activists, and it must be a whole-of-society strategy.

“But, you have to address gender violence and poverty.

“Maybe that's more complex, and I think it's really achievable if we let go of the idea that this one thing is going to fix all of the issues.

"They are actually 100 per cent different things, but these are all the different players that can come to the table and work it out.

“We will have the shifts that we need in business, sort of keeping ourselves in the cycle of both violence and fallacy,” she said.

Maliamauv was one of the guest speakers during the programme along with Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh and Suhakam Commissioner Ragunath Kesavan.

The show was moderated by Meor Addelan.