Caning for illegal stay is too harsh
Re: “Court to cane duo in exchange for shorter jail sentence”, The Star, June 21.
Two Indonesians have asked to be caned to escape a longer jail term after they were convicted of staying in Malaysia without proper documentation. Judicial caning is a harsh and brutal punishment that has been abolished in nations around the world.
Malaysia is one of only 46 countries that still impose corporal punishment.
If it cannot be abolished, at least it should be imposed only for violent and brutal crimes. Immigrants whose only crime is working and living here without proper documentation should not be caned.
Surely the “crime” of seeking a better future for their suffering families by working here illegally is nothing compared with the offences committed by white-collar criminals who impoverish families by defrauding them of their life savings through get-rich schemes.
M Ganeshadeva
Kuala Lumpur/The Star/ANN
