Rotan penalty to be reviewed next

THE punishment of rotan imposed by the civil courts on prisoners will be reviewed, says Ramkarpal Singh.

This comes after Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) described the current form of punishment as “sadistic, primitive and inhumane”.

“In our country, there exists two forms of rotan, one by the civil court and the other by the syariah court.

“The punishment of rotan by the civil court should be abolished,” said Hassan.

“As a defence lawyer, I have witnessed first-hand how much injury and extreme pain the rotan causes to the prisoner.

“There are some prisoners who are willing to have their jail term extended by a year just to avoid the rotan,” he said when debating the Abolition of Death Penalty Act 2023.

The amendments abolish the mandatory death sentence for 11 offences.

Instead, the courts will have the discretion to impose life imprisonment of between 30 and 40 years, including six to 12 strokes of the rotan.

Hassan said he supported the abolition of the mandatory death sentence and wanted to see the same applied to the penalty of rotan by the civil courts.