Dewan Rakyat told the civil courts to stay for the moment

KUALA LUMPUR: The government does not intend to abolish the caning imposed by the civil courts for now, said today the Rakyat Dewan.

Deputy Prime Minister Hanipa Maidin (PH-Sepang) said the government, at this stage, felt the need to keep the sentence, but was studying the issue.

"For the moment, there is no decision to abolish the whip. This punishment has existed for a long time in the country and, I admit, it has a deterrent effect.

"Do we want to change that? Under current law, a judge may exercise his discretion to replace the whip with a prison sentence if he finds that whipping will harm the person.

"There is room for this kind of change. That is why I say that the government believes that it is always necessary to keep flogging.

"However, we are ready to listen to anyone who has conducted a very detailed study on this subject. We have not decided (to abolish or keep). We are still studying, "he said in response to a question from Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PH-Kapar).

Abdullah Sani had asked the government to take a stand for the complete abolition of caning, as was done in England and India, with prison sentences extended.

To Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz's (PAS-Bachok) initial question, Hanipa acknowledged that the current civil flogging, compared to that practiced under Sharia law, showed differences, probably due to a different philosophy of punishment.

"Under Shari'a, it's educate, not hurt. In a civil flagellation, it is harder to harm because they say it is a deterrent and that it involves serious and other crimes, "he said.