A death sentence imposed by a court on mainland China on a young Malay woman who admitted smuggling heroin has sparked a race between rival Malaysian political parties to come to her rescue.
Umi Azlim Lazim, a 24-year-old university graduate, pleaded guilty to trafficking 2.9kg of heroin into Shantou, Guangdong province, in May and was sentenced to death. However, her case only came to light in Malaysia last week.
There have been previous cases of Malaysians being sentenced to death in foreign courts, but according to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry, this is the first involving an ethnic Malay woman. Her case has been given wide publicity in the Malay media.
The Malaysian government has also weighed in, with Law Minister Nazri Aziz suggesting Umi might have been an unwitting accomplice in the heroin-trafficking operation.
'No young Malay women, graduated and employed, had involvement in trafficking. But recently, such incidents are surfacing because they are tricked by syndicates,' said Mr Nazri. 'We are worried; we are studying the implications.'
Bakri Zininas, director of Malaysia's Narcotics Department, told The Star newspaper on Monday that Umi and others were used as drug mules by an international syndicate.
'They were either tricked or they knew what they were doing,' he said, adding that 32 Malaysian women were in jails in China, Japan, Brazil and Chile for trafficking. 'Some have been sentenced, while others are awaiting trial.