GURUN: A minister has urged the public not to turn the Kelantan government's plan to introduce public caning of shariah offenders into a polemic as it is done in accordance with the Shariah law and applicable only to Muslims.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said the move was nothing new and had been implemented before in Tawau, Sabah where offenders were caned in the court instead of the prison.
Jamil, who is also Umno Supreme Council member, stressed that the public caning was passed under the amendment of Shariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2002 which means that it will not involve the non-Muslims.
He added that the sentences such as the number of strokes remained the same and that the only difference was the venue of the punishment which was being shifted from inside of the prison to outside.
"Do not make the public caning as an issue because the punishment has long existed under the Shariah law.
"Kelantan only amended the enactment in terms of shifting the venue where the punishment will be carried out," he told the reporters after opening the Jerai Umno Youth annual delegates meeting here today.
On Wednesday, the Kelantan state assembly passed an amendment to the Shariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2002, which calls for Shariah offenders to be caned in public for the offences of zina (adultery), false accusations of zina, sodomy and alcohol consumption.