Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023

The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Act 2023 (Act 846) is a Malaysian statute that removed the mandatory death penalty and mandatory imprisonment for natural life from Malaysian criminal law, without abolishing capital punishment itself. Before the Act came into force on 4 July 2023, 11 offences under Malaysian law — including murder, drug trafficking, acts of terrorism, and waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong — carried a mandatory death sentence, leaving judges no discretion except for pregnant women or children as defined by law. Under the new Act, judges may instead choose between the death penalty or a prison term of 30 to 40 years combined with at least 12 strokes of whipping. The Act also abolished mandatory imprisonment for natural life across Malaysian law, replacing it with a fixed term of 30 to 40 years.

The legislative history stretches back to the 2018 general election, when the Pakatan Harapan coalition's manifesto pledged to abolish mandatory hanging. After forming government, ministers initially announced in October 2018 an intention to abolish the death penalty entirely and imposed a nationwide execution moratorium, but by March 2019 the government scaled back to abolishing only the mandatory nature of the penalty — a shift human rights groups including Amnesty International and Lawyers for Liberty criticised as a "U-turn." A Special Committee on the Study on the Alternative to the Mandatory Death Sentence, chaired by former Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, was convened in 2019 and submitted its findings in February 2020, but the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government that month, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, stalled progress. No bill was tabled during Muhyiddin Yasin's premiership. Under Ismail Sabri Yaakob's government, the effort resumed in June 2022, and seven related bills were tabled for first reading in October 2022, but they lapsed when Parliament was dissolved for the 15th General Election days later.

Following the formation of Anwar Ibrahim's unity government in late 2022, Law Minister Azalina Othman Said revived the effort. The Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill 2023, alongside a companion bill allowing Federal Court review of existing death and natural-life sentences, was tabled on 27 March 2023. It passed the Dewan Rakyat on 3 April 2023 and the Dewan Negara on 11 April 2023, received royal assent on 9 June 2023, and was gazetted on 16 June 2023 before coming into operation on 4 July 2023.

The Act amended seven laws, including the Penal Code, Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, and Kidnapping Act 1961, applying retrospectively to pending cases and appeals. International and domestic bodies including Amnesty International, the European Union, Human Rights Watch, the OHCHR, the Malaysian Bar, SUHAKAM, SUARAM, ADPAN, MADPET, and Lawyers for Liberty welcomed the reform as a step forward while urging Malaysia to abolish capital punishment entirely.