Malaysia will not emulate Duterte’s war on drugs, says DPM

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will not be emulating Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s extrajudicial killing on drug pushers, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Wednesday (Nov 29) after a federal lawmaker urged Putrajaya to adopt Manila’s controversial war on drugs.

“Duterte’s template cannot be used here,” said Mr Zahid.

He said Malaysia has its own agencies to deal with the drug menace.

This includes the police’s Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department and the Customs Department as well as the National Anti-Drug Agency, which is responsible for rehabilitation of drug addicts.

Mr Bung Moktar Radin, a Member of Parliament from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, had on Tuesday praised the Philippines’ controversial drug war that has claimed thousands of lives,

“I am very serious about this. Just shoot them, like they do in the Philippines. Why can’t we do this? Jail addicts without trial and shoot dealers. What is the problem (in doing this)?” Mr Bung said.

In response, Mr Zahid’s deputy, Mr Nur Jazlan Mohamed told the lawmaker said such policy will attract international attention in all the wrong ways.

“Supporting Duterte’s policy of shooting addicts runs counter to international norms. We don’t want to implement policies that would affect human rights,” he said.

This is not the first time Putrajaya rejected suggestions that Malaysia adopt Mr Duterte’s strategy.

In August, Mr Zahid said while Putrajaya was keen to reduce drug trafficking, it did not consider the measures introduced by the Duterte administration to be right for Malaysia.

“We respect the method undertaken by them but it is only suitable for their country. Malaysia will be using our own method, especially in enforcing the laws we currently have,” he had said.

Mr Duterte was elected last year on a promise to eradicate drugs from Philippine society by launching an unprecedented campaign.

Since he took office, police have reported killing almost 4,000 people in the crackdown. Another 2,300 have been murdered in drug-related crimes, while thousands of other deaths remain unsolved, according to government data. AGENCIES