Malaysia

Malaysia retains the death penalty, including for drug offences. However, in July 2018, the government declared a nationwide suspension on executions. No executions are known to have taken place since 2017.

In 2023, a landmark legislative reform abolished the mandatory death penalty across all offences, enabling judges to have discretion in sentencing. It also triggered a review of the sentences of more than a thousand people on death row. The reforms also included the full abolition of the death penalty for several offences and the repeal of natural life imprisonment.

While these are significant steps forward, capital punishment remains available in law and the work to achieve full abolition continues.

We began working in Malaysia in the early 2010s, representing individuals facing the death penalty and engaging with key stakeholders on the question of capital punishment.

Central to our work has been the use of rigorous research to shift policy. In 2012, we commissioned the Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford to conduct a large-scale public opinion survey on the mandatory death penalty, based on a representative sample of 1,535 Malaysian citizens. The findings played a pivotal role in the government’s decision to abolish the mandatory death penalty for drug-related offences.

Building on that foundation, we collaborated with the Death Penalty Research Unit on a major three-year study mapping the political economy of drugs and the death penalty across Southeast Asia, generating the evidence base needed to drive further reform across the region.

We continue to push for evidence-based reform, and to work towards the full abolition of capital punishment in Malaysia. Recent research we have conducted in Indonesia on the death penalty and drug crime will be a vital resource for engagement with decision makers throughout the region.