【Democracy? Public Opinion? -The challenges of the Abolitionist Movement】
Taiwan and Malaysia are both countries that have not yet abolished the death penalty.
In Taiwan, politicians always use public opinion as a shield to avoid the obligation to abolish the death penalty as a state party. While in Malaysia, back in October 2018, the government announced the country's intention to abolish the death penalty, and since then, public opposition has been mounting. Since then, the abolition of the death penalty has been downgraded to the abolition of the mandatory death penalty.
Public opinion is complex, and it will change in different trends as information is revealed or not. Public opinion is more concerned about how the government can resolve the crime problem rather than support abolishing the death penalty. However, the government has long been reluctant to look deeply into the needs of public opinion but simplifying it to "public support for the death penalty". However, The death penalty has no deterrent effect. Claims that each execution deters a certain number of murders have been thoroughly discredited by social science research.
This Forum will focus on our neighbouring Asian countries, including Korea's long-standing non-execution of the death penalty and Mongolia's politicians' determination to defend and uphold human rights values. We invited Taiwan legislator Hsien-Chih Chiu and Member of Parliament in Malaysian Kasthuri Patto to share the responsibilities and challenges of promoting the abolition of the death penalty and the action plan for the future.
