Malaysia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- CONSTITUTION
- August 31, 1957, amended several times, last in 2007
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on English common law; legislative acts reviewed by the Supreme Court; Islamic law applies to Muslims in family and religious matters
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, Senate (Dewan Negara) and House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- civil courts include: Federal Court, Court of Appeal, and High Courts; Sharia courts include Sharia Court of Appeal, High Sharia Court, and subordinate Sharia tribunals. Sharia court decisions cannot be appealed in civil courts
RELIGIONS
60% Muslims, 19% Buddhists, 9% Christians, 6% Hindus, other
From the country
JUNE 30, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MURDER OF FRIEND’S CHILDREN
The High Court in Alor Setar has sentenced a man to death for murdering his friend’s two young children six years ago, Free Malaysia Today reported on June 30, 2025.
JUNE 18, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: SYABU TRAFFICKER’S DEATH SENTENCE REPLACED WITH LIFE IMPRISONMENT
A self-employed man, who received the capital punishment for trafficking in syabu, escaped the hangman’s noose after the Court of Appeal in Kota Kinabalu on June 17, 2025 substituted it with an imprisonment for life.
APRIL 10, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: TWO PAKISTANI NATIONALS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TRAFFICKING OVER 191KG OF KETAMINE
The Malaysian High Court on April 10, 2025 imposed the death penalty on two Pakistani nationals after they were found guilty of trafficking 191.28 kg of ketamine six years ago.
- APRIL 7, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
TWO YEARS AFTER ABOLISHING THE MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY, DATA SHOWS MALAYSIA MAY BE MOVING ON FOR GOOD
Within two years year of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim administration abolishing the mandatory death penalty, the number of death row inmates has plunged by nearly 90 per cent
MARCH 31, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: 5 INDIAN NATIONALS GET DEATH PENALTY CONVERTED TO 30 YEARS’ JAIL FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
Malaysia’s Court of Appeal has commuted the death sentences of five Indian nationals to 30 years in prison, finding them guilty on two counts of drug trafficking at a plantation in Rantau, Negeri Sembilan, seven years ago, Free Malaysia Today reported on
- MARCH 18, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: FEDERAL COURT REINSTATES DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAWANG MAN WHO MURDERED WIFE AND BABY IN 2016
The Federal Court on March 14, 2025 reinstated the death penalty for a former lorry driver convicted of murdering his wife and seven-month-old daughter in 2016.
- JANUARY 13, 2025MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: DEATH SENTENCE OF EX-LORRY DRIVER CONVICTED OF RAPE-CUM-MURDER OF ELDERLY WOMAN COMMUTED TO 40 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
A former lorry driver who murdered an 85-year-old woman after raping and sodomising her in 2019 has his death sentence commuted to 40 years in prison by the Federal Court on January 13, 2025.
- NOVEMBER 7, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: OVER 800 DEATH ROW SENTENCES COMMUTED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT UNDER NEW ACT
Eighteen people were sentenced to death in Malaysia between Jan 1 and Oct 14 this year.
OCTOBER 23, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTYMALAYSIA: APEX COURT COMMUTES EX-FACTORY WORKERS’ DEATH SENTENCES
Malaysia’s Federal Court has commuted the death sentences of two former factory workers to 34 years in prison, along with 12 strokes of the cane each, for the murder of an acquaintance 13 years ago.
- OCTOBER 16, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: APEX COURT COMMUTES EX-SAWMILL WORKER’S DEATH SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER TO 40 YEARS IN PRISON
The Federal Court in Putrajaya on August 7, 2024 commuted the death sentence of a former sawmill worker to 40 years in prison for killing and raping a nurse nine years ago.
- OCTOBER 10, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE OF NAJIB’S FORMER BODYGUARD
Malaysia has commuted the death sentence of an ex-police guard of former premier Najib Razak, after the Southeast Asian country changed its law on capital punishment.
- OCTOBER 6, 2024MalaysiaDEATH PENALTY
MALAYSIA: FEDERAL COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR SEVEN FILIPINOS
Malaysia’s Federal Court on October 2, 2024 upheld the death sentences of seven Filipino men, including a nephew of self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram, for waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) during the Lahad Datu in