The Malaysian government has decided to abolish the death penalty and a proposed Bill is expected to be tabled at the next parliament sitting, local media reported on Wednesday (Oct 10).

The minister in charge of law in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong said the issue was discussed when the Cabinet met on Wednesday morning.

“All death penalty will be abolished. Full stop," the Malay Mail quoted Liew as saying after an event at Universiti Malaya. 

“All the papers are in the final stage. The Attorney-General has also indicated to us that it is ready to be tabled, hopefully in this (parliamentary) session,” he added.

The next parliament sitting starts on Monday.

The minister also called for a moratorium on all executions until the death penalty is abolished. 

''Since we are abolishing the sentence, all executions should not be carried out," Liew said as reported by The Star. ''We will inform the Pardons Board to look into various applications for convicts on the (death penalty) waiting list to either be commuted or released."

Malaysia currently has the death penalty for crimes such as murder and drug trafficking.

The Pakatan Harapan government had said after winning the general elections in May that it would review the death sentence and other “unsuitable” national security laws. 

Last month, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad came to the defence of a man facing the death penalty for selling cannabis oil to patients, saying his sentence should be reviewed.

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