DAP slams PAS’ guillotine “obsession”

(The Star) – The Kelantan government should axe all plans to use a guillotine in implementing hudud law in the state, said DAP central executive committee member Liew Chin Tong.

“The obsession with such inhumane methods of punishment on the part of Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah is disappointing.

“Like many other proponents of human rights, I have been campaigning for the end or reduced usage of cruel punishments such as the death penalty and judicial caning,” Liew said in a statement.

He was responding to a report that Mohd Amar, who is the chairman of Kelantan’s hudud law technical committee, said he would suggest to the panel to use such a guillotine, which would not need a surgeon to operate.

Mohd Amar said the guillotine was fast, effective and needed only one person to pull the lever, two others to hold down the offender and a doctor to ensure the punished person does not drastically suffer from the punishment. The judge who meted out the sentence must also be present.

Liew, who is Kluang MP, said that he could not understand Mohd Amar’s “obsession.”

“He would do the nation a great service by focusing the public discourse on the core issues of justice, and not on the graphic description of a particular way to amputate limbs.

“Malaysia does not need another form of such punishment. The reasons for opposing such cruel and irreversible methods in principle have been explained time and again,” said Liew.

Kelantan intends to table two private member’s bills in Parliament on the implementation of hudud laws next year.

The first is to provide wider powers to Syariah court judges to hear and mete out sentences under the Syariah Penal Code while the second is to allow Federal departments, like the police and the prisons department, to be used by the state government to enforce its Hudud laws.

Currently, under Article 76A of the Federal Constitution, crimes such as stealing, robbing, causing hurt, rape and murder come under the Penal Code.