KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin disagreed today that caning of children should be criminalised, insisting that using it for education and child abuse are two different things.
The Youth and Sports minister said Eastern and Western parents employ different ways to educate their children, with many Malaysians agreeing that caning is one of the ways to do so.
“For me, when we say that caning children is a crime, most people would not agree,” he said in a press conference here after chairing an Umno Youth meeting.
“For us in Umno and Umno Youth, if said that caning is a crime, I don’t think we agree with that,” he added.
Khairy said caning children is “common” among Malaysians, adding that parenting methods here are different from those in the West where parents cannot lay a finger on the children.
But the Rembau MP also warned against potential child abuse that might arise from caning, urging control among parents while teaching their children lessons.
On Saturday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said caning could be an offence under a new law to replace the Child Act 2001.
She later clarified that the provision proposed by the ministry under the new Child Act is not meant to outlaw all forms of caning of children, only those meted out on child offenders in court.
Currently, Section 91(1)(g) of the Child Act 2001 allows a male child to be sentenced to caning not more than 10 strokes if found guilty of criminal offences.
