By Joe Fernandez
Commentary And Analysis . . . The growing body of evidence that Law has not reduced the Drug Trade was proven fact (factum probatum) across multiple jurisdiction.
The claim that Law would cause the “bottom falling out from the Drug Trade” was supported by evidence that the law does not address the elephant in the room: it’s the law in fact, based on logic, legal reasoning and legal language, that keeps the Drug Trade lucrative for the drug kingpins and those probably in cahoots with them.
These drug kingpins sacrifice the occasional courier for public consumption purposes.
(https://jesseltontimes.com/2026/06/29/malaysia-neglects-english-language-foundation-in-law/)
Law
There’s public perception that the law must be made even stiffer so that the drug menace would be reduced, if not completely eliminated.
The judges in Malaysia, unusually active unlike their hanging counter-parts in Singapore for example, declined hearing cases which carried the mandatory death sentences for trafficking even in small amounts for probably personal use. That has since seen the removal of the mandatory death sentence from sec 39B of the Drug Trafficking Act.
The judges, stricken by conscience, declined hearing drug trafficking cases. It was powerful exercise of moral duty (dharma) against legal reason for decision (ratio decidendi).
Ironically, the non‑sitting was viewed as judicial dereliction under strict rule of law (Rechtsstaat) reading.
Drug Trade
Filipina Mary Jane Veloso’s sixteen‑year detention in Indonesia was the named factum probatum of the human cost of the courier model. The obstacle on reform isn’t lack of evidence but deficit of political will.
The proof of the pudding being in the eating permeates every continent.
The Drug Trade has persisted and adapted; the death penalty has failed; the kingpins prosper; and Mary Jane Veloso has been sent home for continued detention.
The judges in Malaysia showed that the law can be pressured from within.
Portugal showed that public health can replace punishment.
Canada and Uruguay showed that regulation was possible, though imperfect, and that legalisation carries its risks — youth uptake, potency creep, and commercialisation — which must be weighed alongside the benefits.
A regulatory framework must also address the equity question: those who operated in the illicit market under prohibition should not be automatically excluded from the licit market without transitional pathway. There must be no new discrimination.
Silent Partner
The bottom will fall out from the drug trade when the law ceases as the syndicate’s silent partner. If it does not fall entirely; it will fragment.
That requires political will, not more evidence.
Insight
Visible: Prohibition; death penalty; couriers executed and imprisoned.
Hidden: The failure of legislation on reducing the trade; market persistence and adaptation; the immunity of kingpins; the predatory creation of demand among schoolchildren; the judicial conscience that declined on hearing cases in Malaysia; the named case of Mary Jane Veloso; the Portuguese decriminalisation that saved lives; the persistent black markets under legalisation; the countervailing risks of legalisation; the equity question of licensed versus illicit actors; the treaty framework; the political inertia; and the debt that accumulates with every execution and every year of unjust detention.
The metaphor for consequence describes the hangings in Singapore, the judicial refusal in Malaysia, the sixteen years of Mary Jane Veloso, the public health gains in Portugal, the regulatory experiments in Canada, and the blood in the Philippines.
The truth about the drug trade will not be suppressed by the hangman’s noose or the politician’s fear.
The truth (Veritas) will emerge. It needs no court of law, but it will find its voice in the judges who decline hearing, the legislators who dare reform, the woman who testifies after sixteen years, and the families who bury their dead while the debate continues.
Time will prove everything. Let justice be done though the heavens fall (Fiat justitia ruat caelum). — TJT
Longtime Borneo watcher Joe Fernandez has been writing for many years on both sides of the Southeast Asia Sea. He should not be mistaken for namesake formerly with the Daily Express in Kota Kinabalu. JF keeps a Blog under FernzTheGreat, as jurist (legal scholar), on the nature of human relationships.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do s not necessarily represent the views of Jesselton Times.
THE PHILIPPINES
The violent “war on drugs” under the Duterte administration resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings.
The drug trade did not cease; it adapted.
The Philippines demonstrates the ultimate consequence of prohibition pursued without restraint: mass death without mass solution, a blood‑soaked fruit of action (karmaphala)) that has left communities shattered and the drug trade intact.
HUMAN COST
Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino lady who was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 as a drug courier, sentenced, and was given the death penalty, and ultimately repatriated for the Philippines in December 2024, has spent sixteen years in detention.
She now serves reclusion (perpetua) at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong, with habeas corpus and clemency petitions pending.
On 19 June 2026, after sixteen years, she testified against her recruiters.
She remains recognised trafficking victim under Philippine law.
Her case was about the spirit of the age (Zeitgeist) example of the hidden: syndicates use vulnerable couriers; states punish the courier; kingpins remain untouched.
In naming her was giving intention (animus) and weight for what would otherwise be an abstraction. She remains factum probatum courier‑as‑victim problem under prohibition.
ISSUES IN CONFLICT
Whether legislation—criminal prohibition—has demonstrably failed on reducing the drug trade across multiple jurisdictions;
Whether the death penalty has deterred drug trafficking in any jurisdiction where it has been applied;
Whether the Malaysian judges declining on hearing drug trafficking cases constitutes legal precedent, moral example, or judicial dereliction and/or activism;
Whether the distinction between decriminalisation of use and legalisation of supply was adequately maintained in policy arguments;
Whether the international drug conventions constitute binding barrier on reform, and what are the legal pathways for treaty exit;
Whether Mary Jane Veloso was factum probatum of the courier‑as‑victim problem under prohibition; and
Whether regulatory framework would discriminate between licensed producers and legacy illicit actors, and how such discrimination may be avoided.
CHRONOLOGY
1961, 1971, 1988: UN drug conventions establish the global prohibition framework.
2001: Portugal decriminalises personal possession of all drugs.
2010: Mary Jane Veloso arrested in Indonesia as drug courier.
2013: Uruguay legalises cannabis.
2015: Veloso sentenced and gets death; execution stayed.
2018: Canada legalises cannabis; Malaysian judges begin declining on hearing drug trafficking cases.
December 2024: Veloso repatriated and arrives in the Philippines; serves perpetua at CIW Mandaluyong.
2020s: Various US states legalise cannabis; Singapore continues hangings.
19 June 2026: Veloso testifies against recruiters.
2026: The proposition under review was published for jurist analysis.
STATUTES AND TREATIES
Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Act 234, Malaysia) – as amended.
Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 (Singapore).
Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act 2002 (Philippines).
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 – denunciation clause: Article 46.
Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 – denunciation clause: Article 29.
United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 – denunciation clause: Article 30.
Federal Constitution of Malaysia: Articles 5, 8, 10.
Evidence Act 1950 (Act 56, Malaysia) – sections 101‑103.
CASE LAWS
Subramaniam v. Public Prosecutor [1956] 1 WLR 965 – hearsay rule.
R v. ExallI (1866) 4 F. & F. 922 – circumstantial evidence.
Sivarasa Rasiah v. Badan Peguam Malaysia [2010] 2 MLJ 333 – rule of law.
PRINCIPLES
Onus probandi; prima facie; correlatio non est causatio; allegatio non probata; factum probatum; contradictio in adjecto; falsa demonstratio; audi alteram partem; lex naturalis; veritas; pacta sunt servanda; ultra vires; reductio ad absurdum; ratio decidendi; stare decisis; de facto; de jure; dharma; karmaphala.
AUTHORITIES
The proposition under review.
The philosophical meditations on law.
UN drug conventions (1961, 1971, 1988).
Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Malaysia).
Misuse of Drugs Act 1973 (Singapore).
H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, 3rd ed.
RAW DATA ANALYSED
Read and share 📢
A Migrante International Campaign calling for FREE MARY JANE VELOSO
On 19 June 2026, Mary Jane Veloso testified in court after nearly 16 years of imprisonment.
This marks an important milestone in her long journey toward freedom and justice.
Mary Jane’s case has become symbol of the challenges faced by many migrant workers, especially women, who are vulnerable for trafficking, exploitation, and inadequate protection. While her testimony was significant step, her journey isn’t yet over.
We continue the call for Mary Jane’s freedom and for stronger measures for protecting migrant workers, prevent trafficking, and ensure access for justice.
Justice for Mary Jane was justice for all migrant workers.
#MigrantVoices #FreeMaryJane #EndHumanTrafficking #MigrantRights #JusticeforMJV
