‘No’ to mandatory caning for graft

PETALING JAYA: Human rights activists and lawyers are against a proposal to impose mandatory caning for graft offenders, calling it regressive.

Civil rights lawyer Andrew Khoo said it would prevent judges from exercising judicial discretion in sentencing.

“Caning constitutes cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment under international law,” he said.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Comm Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull had last week proposed that those guilty of graft be caned. This was supported by Transparency InternationalMalaysia president Datuk Akhbar Satar.

Lawyer Syahredzan Johan said the best way to address graft was through education.

“Even if we need to impose heavier sentences, it must not be corporal punishment,” he said.

Social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir said: “Just make sure the jail time is commensurate with the crime and no special privileges.”

Bar Council National Legal Aid Committee co-chairman Ravindran Nekoo said it is akin to “cutting a tree and leaving the roots to survive” while Gerakan adviser and lawyer Tan Sri Chang Ko Youn said a new value system, evolved through education, could be a longlasting balm to this social ill.” – by Amar Shah Mohsen and P. Chandra Sagaran