KUALA LUMPUR — Datchinamurthy Kataiah, who was sentenced to death, has been on death row for 15 years.

He was arrested as a young man after agreeing to transport a package for about RM300, only to later discover it contained heroin.

“He was interrogated without legal counsel and warned of the death penalty during questioning. Since then, he has represented himself in multiple proceedings.

“In 2022, he successfully argued for a stay of execution despite having no formal legal training.

“However, Datchinamurthy most recently received a notice on September 21, 2025, with only four days’ warning under Singapore’s revised rules for repeat notices — that his execution will be carried out on September 25, 2025, at Changi Prison,” activists told reporters at a joint press conference by Amnesty International Malaysia, the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN), and the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC). 

Another Malaysian, Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, convicted in 2017 of importing 51g of heroin, has spent the last six years on death row.

Despite evidence that he acted only as a courier and had provided intelligence to authorities, he was denied a certificate of substantive assistance — a decision that sealed his fate under Singapore’s mandatory death penalty.

Both men have endured repeated traumas from execution notices that were only stayed at the last minute.

“With a new prime minister in office, Singapore has an opportunity to take a different path.

“Pannir and Datchinamurthy deserve clemency. Their cases show that the death penalty is neither fair nor necessary,” activists said.

According to them, Prime Minister Wong has so far not made any public statements on Singapore’s use of the death penalty. However, the first clemency granted to a death row prisoner in 27 years has shown that change is possible.