14-Year-Old Sentenced to Death in Malaysia for Illegal Firearm Possession

In a 1977 report by Utusan Malaysia, a 14-year-old student received the nation's first-ever death sentence for a minor. The Penang High Court found the unnamed student guilty of illegally possessing a Browning pistol and 20 rounds of ammunition under the Internal Security Act.

The article also highlights other events that occurred on August 26 in Malaysia. In 1971, the Malaysian Islamic Students National Association launched a fund to establish an Islamic university.

Five years later, in 1972, Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Omar proposed that applications to become a lawyer should be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia, not English.

On the same day the death sentence was reported in 1977, a pilot project for modern rice cultivation using machinery was set to launch in Pekan, Pahang, covering 500 acres in Paya Ganchong. Further information is available from Media Mulia Sdn Bhd's Information and Archive Center.