Southeast Asia Rethinks the Death Penalty, Except Singapore

Across Southeast Asia, a quiet revolution is underway. Governments are increasingly questioning the use of capital punishment, narrowing its scope, and edging toward abolition. However, Singapore stands as a notable outlier, continuing to actively employ the death penalty at a rate that contrasts sharply with regional trends.

A Regional Shift Away from Capital Punishment

Currently, eight of the eleven Southeast Asian countries retain the death penalty. Cambodia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste have fully abolished it in law. Recent reforms indicate a broader movement toward reducing reliance on capital punishment, with many retentionist states implementing de facto moratoriums on executions and revising legislation to limit the crimes punishable by death.

Several countries have made significant strides:

• Vietnam: In 2025, Vietnam’s National Assembly removed the death penalty for eight offenses, reducing the number of death-eligible crimes from 18 to 10. Existing death sentences for these offenses were commuted to life imprisonment.
• Malaysia: In 2023, Malaysia abolished the mandatory death penalty, granting judges greater discretion in sentencing. A Policy and Direction Review working group was established in November 2025 to explore full abolition, with work expected to initiate in early 2026.
• Indonesia: If Indonesia avoids executions in 2026, it will be considered a de facto abolitionist state, having gone ten consecutive years without carrying out a death sentence. The recent Criminal Code, effective January 2, 2026, designates the death penalty as a last resort and allows for a ten-year probation period, potentially leading to commutation.
• Thailand: While a proposal to abolish the death penalty was rejected by the government in late 2024, Thailand has not carried out an execution since 2018.

EU Advocacy and International Pressure

The European Union has consistently championed the abolition of the death penalty as a key human rights goal, supporting UN moratorium resolutions and engaging in political dialogues with Southeast Asian governments. While acknowledging the uneven pace of progress, the EU believes its efforts are yielding results. “The EU is slowly but surely having success in some countries, at least in whittling down the number of crimes for which the penalty can be imposed,” stated Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, to Deutsche Welle.

Singapore’s Contrasting Approach

Singapore, however, is bucking the regional trend. It is actively increasing its use of the death penalty, particularly for drug-related offenses. Kirsten Han, a Singaporean journalist and campaigner against capital punishment, described Singapore as “very enthusiastically doubling down on the death penalty and carrying out executions at an alarming rate.”

Singapore executed 17 people in 2025, the highest number since 2003. Executions are carried out by long drop hanging, typically at dawn. Thirty-three offenses are punishable by death under Singaporean law, including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, and kidnapping.

In December 2025, Singapore’s High Court upheld the constitutionality of the mandatory death penalty for certain drug offenses. Despite public opinion studies suggesting broad support for capital punishment among Singaporeans, a 2016 study by the National University of Singapore revealed limited public understanding of how the death penalty is applied, with 62% of respondents admitting to knowing “little” or “nothing” about its use.

Recent Execution and International Concerns

As of February 13, 2026, Singapore executed a 62-year-old Singaporean for trafficking over 29.06g of diamorphine. Concerns are also rising over the case of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a Malaysian national scheduled for execution on February 20, 2026.

The EU, along with Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, has issued statements calling on Singapore to halt executions and embrace abolition. However, Singapore maintains its sovereign right to determine its legal system and has pushed back against international criticism, including voting against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty in 2024.

As Southeast Asia largely moves away from capital punishment, Singapore’s continued reliance on it positions the nation as an increasingly isolated case.