Media statement by DAP Secretary for International Affairs and Vice Chairperson for DAP Wanita Kasthuri Patto on Sunday 28th September 2025 in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysians mourned the execution of K. Datchinamurthy on Thursday the 25th of September in Singapore. He was accused of drug trafficking 44.96g of diamorphine at the Woodlands Checkpoint, Singapore, in January 2011 and was sentenced to death in 2015 – having spent 14 years behind bars and 10 years in solitary confinement as a death row inmate.
Pannir Selvam, from Ipoh was also detained at the Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore for attempting to smuggle 51.84g of heroin in September 2014. Although providing information of his “recruiter” Anand, Pannir was not issued a Certificate of Substantive Assistance and while managed to obtain a stay of execution in February this year, he remains on the execution list of the Singapore prison authorities.
Saminathan Selvaraju was detained in March 2014, 4 months after after allegedly bringing in 301.6g of diamorphine into Singapore in November 2013 via the trailer which he supposedly drove from Malaysia into Singapore as a delivery driver. He is also currently on death row in spite of the court declaring him as a courier but not providing him with the Certificate of Substantive Assistance.
Prabagaran Srivijayan was 25 when he was arrested at the Woodlands Checkpoint for attempting to bring in 22.24g of heroin in the arm rest of the car he borrowed, driving in from Johore. He had fallen behind with instalment payment of his motorcycle and did not want to ride it through the border checkpoint into Singapore. While Praba provided out the name of the owner of the car and his friend who suggested he borrowed the car, neither one were called as witnesses for his case. Praba’s execution date was set while his proceedings were still pending before the Malaysian courts. A last-minute application for a stay of execution was refused and Praba was executed in July 2014 before the Malaysian court had an opportunity to make a decision in his case.
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was convicted of attempting to smuggle 42.7g of heroin into Singapore in April 2009 at the Woodlands Checkpoint. He had an IQ of 69 and was described by his family as being mentally unstable when he was executed in Singapore in April 2022.
All of these men, and many others had been arrested in Singapore at the checkpoint while travelling from Malaysia. The burning and inevitable question here is why were they not apprehended by the Malaysian customs or the police force on Malaysian soil? Did the Malaysian officers not know of the packages on these men or in their vehicles? Or were they aware of it but “allowed” them to pass through the Malaysian border checkpoint into the Singapore checkpoint so that they can be apprehended there? Was it the policy of the Government and enforcement officers that smugglers should be dealt with by the authorities of the country they are entering? These men were arrested on their attempts to smuggle drugs into Singapore. What if others had attempted to smuggle out explosives, bombs or worse trafficking children from Malaysia into Singapore? Would their activity be flagged and alarm bells rung?
If this is the norm, then I believe it is high time that the Malaysian authorities at checkpoints and border patrols invest and increase resources and expertise in terms of hardware and software to nab these drug mules from transborder transporting of drugs. It will give a greater insight to the police, customs and immigration enforcement officers on who the traffickers and recruiters are who prey on unsuspecting victims, often poor and marginalised – conned, coerced, blackmailed and threatened to transport drugs across the border. Malaysian enforcement authorities must be equipped to be able to identify drug smugglers at our own border checkpoints on our own soil in order to retrieve vital information on drug syndicates.
Arrest, charge and convict but never the death penalty.
Malaysia made headway in the region with the historic and landmark legal amendment in the Parliament in April 2023 to abolish the mandatory death penalty for 11 offences and for more than 1000 death row inmates to have their sentences reviewed since 2023 until now.
The death penalty is a draconian and colonial law and in many, many cases all over the world explicitly used on the marginalised, the minority and those who come from lower economic classes, in the name of ‘rule of law.’ In many cases too, the powerful, the privileged and those with connections in higher places often are not dealt with the same long arm of the law as the man or woman on the street. Make no mistake, one must be accountable for their actions.
There are no short cuts but the death penalty is certainly not a deterrent – especially in the cases of drug smugglers in to Singapore. At the rate Singapore is executing people for drug related offences, the drug menace should be at a zero. It clearly isn’t.
Malaysia must do better in upholding not just the rule of law but of justice, equality, freedom and of the truth – without judgement, fear or favour and especially for Malaysians abroad who are on death row.
Kasthuri Patto
DAP Secretary for International Affairs
DAP Vice Chair for the Women’s Wing
