Kuala Lampur, July 23 -- Minister Azalina Othman Said's recent announcement on the formation of a task force to review Malaysia's death penalty policy signals a moment of real possibility - a chance for our nation to reflect, to listen, and to lead.

For too long, the death penalty has been seen as a necessary instrument of justice - a symbol of deterrence, of moral reckoning.

But we know now, through the wisdom of experience and the clarity of data, that capital punishment does not bring back the lives lost. It does not heal broken families. And it does not make us safer.

What it does do is place a permanent, irrevocable judgment in the hands of a justice system that, however well-intentioned, is not immune to error.

We've seen this a...