KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya must do away with the caning of convicts, a government backbencher told the Dewan Rakyat.
Hassan Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) said that such a punishment was “sadistic, primitive and inhumane”.
He said that in his experience as a lawyer, he knew of prisoners who would rather spend another year in prison than be caned because of the “excruciating pain and injuries” they will suffer.
“Not only do we need to remove the mandatory death penalty, but we also need to abolish caning as a punishment by civil courts,” he told the Dewan Rakyat when debating the bill to abolish the mandatory death penalty.
In response, deputy law and institutional reform minister Ramkarpal Singh said that the proposal would be taken into consideration.
“We will study this (caning) matter thoroughly in the near future,” he said when winding up the debate.
The Dewan Rakyat then passed the bill through a voice vote.
Caning is meted out on offenders convicted of rape, sexual harassment, robbery and kidnapping.
In the past Amnesty International Malaysia described caning as a form of torture, saying such punishments went against the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) which Malaysia had yet to ratify.
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