SINGAPORE: A general labourer from Bangladesh was killed in Malaysia earlier this week after drinking the orange juice belonging to his colleague to break his fast.
Local police received a report about the killing at around 7:20pm on Tuesday (Mar 19), The New Straits Times quotes Shah Alam district police Chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim as saying.
The Bangladeshi worker, 49, was believed to be stabbed to death by a 51-year-old fellow labourer at the workers’ hostel of a factory in Section 36.
The other man, a Pakistani national, was arrested at 7:30 pm and is in police custody. The police have also taken possession of the knife that was allegedly used in the killing of the Bangladeshi labourer.
The two were breaking fast when the man grew angry after his colleague drank his orange juice.
“The incident stemmed from the suspect’s anger when the victim drank his orange juice during iftar, prompting the suspect to stab the victim multiple times with a knife taken from the kitchen,” the Chief Assistant Commissioner said in a statement.
He added, “We will remand the suspect to help with further investigations.”
Mr Iqbal has also appealed for anyone with additional information concerning the incident to come forward.
Under Section 302 of Malaysia’s Penal Code, should the accused be found guilty, he could be slapped with a prison sentence of between 30 to 40 years, or be caned no less than 12 strokes.
While capital punishment is part of Malaysia’s law, there has been a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2018. The last time a prisoner on death row was hanged was in 2017.
The death penalty was introduced in Malaysia while it was still under British rule. Last year, the country took the first steps to abolish capital punishment with a law proposing to make it optional and not mandatory.
“Legal amendments involving policies on punishment and substitute sentence to the mandatory death penalty are a positive change to make the country’s criminal justice system more holistic and inclusive, apart from not denying individuals their basic right to proper justice,” said Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said in March 2023.
She has been Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Law and Institutional Reforms since December 2022. /TISG