Public caning in Terengganu over syariah offence sparks tensions

Conservative Muslims back man's punishment; rights groups are outraged

- Hazlin Hassan and Azril Annuar

KUALA TERENGGANU - The public caning of a man over an offence under syariah law in Terengganu, a Malaysian state ruled by the country's main Islamist party, has sparked tensions between conservative Muslims who back such punishments and rights groups that said federal law was broken.

Mohd Affendi Awang, 42, a carpenter, was caned six times at a mosque in the Terengganu capital on Dec 27 for the Islamic crime of close proximity with a non-family member of the opposite sex.

His punishment was witnessed by 70 pre-selected individuals - government officers, members of the media and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

It was only the second time that the east coast state had carried out public caning under its syariah law.

In September 2018, two women were publicly caned after they were convicted of attempting to have lesbian sex in a car.

The carpenter's caning has once again brought into the spotlight Malaysia's dual-track justice system - comprising the civil court and the syariah court - which has confused non-Muslims navigating inter-religious marriages.

The case also highlighted the power of the country's 13 state legislatures to enact their own laws, as long as the Federal Constitution is not violated.

Analysts expect the caning to reverberate into mainstream politics as Terengganu is ruled by Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), which has the most number of lawmakers in the federal Parliament.

PAS controls the legislatures of the Malay-Muslim majority states of Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.

The Terengganu Syariah High Court had on Nov 24 sentenced Affendi to six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to committing khalwat for the third time.