Call to forgive death row inmates
Families hope govt will abolish death penalty
KUALA LUMPUR: They bowed their heads in seeking forgiveness for the crimes that their family members committed.
In doing so, several families of prisoners on death row hope that the government goes ahead with the plan to abolish the death penalty even though there is much opposition against it.
They hope that society can forgive their family members.
Yong Wong, 80, yearns for her 57-year-old son Chong Yun Fatt to
walk as a free man one day after
he was convicted of trafficking drugs 31 years ago. She said her son admitted to what he did. because He took he the wanted wrong to help route his to family earn money whose father walked out on them.
Yong said she had worked as a rubber tapper and claimed her son only wanted to see her have a better life. Her son is currently at the Simpang Renggam prison.
“He is a good son and he loves me very much. He regrets his actions very much,” she said with tears in her eyes during a press conference yesterday.
The press conference was organised by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and the Geha Bodhi Buddhist group.
Chandra Segaran, 68, admitted that his son Senguttawan, 33, was guilty for his involvement in an accident case that resulted in the death of a two-year-old child.
He however questioned why his son was charged for murder and not under the Road
Transportation Act.
He claimed that his son was fleeing the police at the time, who had allegedly brandished a gun at his car.
In panic, his son had crashed into a wedding party, causing the death of the child five years ago.
“It’s a mistake, I know, but couldn’t he be given 10-15 years in prison. That would be fair and square. He didn’t have any intention.”
For the other families, the cases were not so clear, claiming that their family members were framed.
In October, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said the Cabinet would abolish the death penalty, with a moratorium for those on death row.
However, in a recent survey of 3,600 respondents conducted by The Star Online, almost half of Malaysians surveyed were against the Cabinet’s plan to abolish the death penalty.