Group: Kelantan does not understand humiliation of public caning

The suggestion to have a demonstration of public caning by the Kelantan government shows that it does not understand the impact of such public humiliation, secularism and liberalism advocate group Bebas says.

"(Kelantan exco member) Mohamed Fadzli Hassan's claim that the public caning is done only to educate, and not to hurt, demonstrates the lack of understanding of the impact of such displays of public humiliation and voyeurism.

"Such people should not be given the responsibility to create and administer laws, particularly those that impose moral policing," Bebas leader Azrul Mohd Khalib told Malaysiakini today.

There has been no proven study or evidence, Azrul said, which can justify the reasoning that severe punishments would deter religious or moral offences.

The suggestion of a demonstration of public caning, in accordance with the punishment described under the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355, was revealed by Fadzli, who said it is intended to promote understanding on how the punishment is carried out.

"We are studying on demonstrating how public caning in Islam (is carried out) so as to promote understanding and correct perception.

"The punishment is only to educate... not to hurt," Fadzli said at a forum yesterday.

He also said that there are those who were out to paint PAS' efforts in pushing for amendments to Act 355 as the party's obsession with punishments.

'Fadzli is just whining'

Azrul dismissed this as Fadzli "whining" about the perception of Islamic governance.

"Fadzli whines about people having the perception that Islamic governance is only out to punish.

"Yet he suggests a demonstration of public caning as a form of education on Islamic justice rather than showing examples of mercy and compassion," he said.

Separately, Kelantan MCA secretary Lua Choon Hann said if the suggestion was allowed, public caning according to syariah procedures would be carried out for the first time in Malaysia.

Lua pointed out in a statement today that currently, court-ordered canings are executed indoors, within the prison compound.

He also reiterated his party's stance that having separate types of whipping, one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims for the same crime, goes against the Federal Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's bill to amend Act 355, which seeks to increase the limits of punishments that the syariah courts can mete out, has not been passed in Parliament yet, Lua pointed out.

However, PAS is already demonstrating its power, he said, which hints at the type of administration PAS hopes for in Malaysia.

"The haste for PAS to get the proposed amendments to Act 355 passed is further evidence of how the PAS-led Kelantan state government is not people’s welfare oriented, like working to eradicate poverty in the state, nor reducing unemployment.

"But they just want to turn the East Coast state, and eventually Malaysia, into a hardline regime based on religious doctrines," Lua added.- Mkini