The government is considering introducing new tough new punishments for incest including life in jail and public whipping.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Rais Yatim said the proposals, put forward by a legal committee which met today, would make a minimum of 10 strokes of the cane mandatory.

Rais said tough laws were needed as a deterrent and a lesson for perpetrators of incest, the official Bernama news agency reported.

The committee meeting was attended by officials from the police, attorney-general's chambers and the welfare ministry.

Rais said other proposals that would be forwarded to the government included exposing the perpetrator in public and allowing the cabinet to decide if the whipping should be done in public.

The police said in 2001 they had reports of 246 incest victims and by March this year the number already stood at 65.

Police statistics revealed that in most cases, fathers, uncles and brothers were the perpetrators.

PM's support

The Penal Code was last amended a year ago to make it an offence for a person to have sex with an individual he or she is not permitted to marry by law, religion or custom. The punishment is a minimum of six years' jail and a maximum of 20 years, and whipping.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad called for public caning of offenders after a recent case of incest in which a little girl was allegedly regularly raped by her father, grandfather and brother. The case threw the spotlight on the extent of the crime in the country.

An angry Mahathir said: "I agree on a heavier penalty (including) displaying them in front of the public and caning."

Mahathir said the community should feel ashamed about such crimes, especially Malays, who are Muslims, and are blamed for most of the offences in this multi-cultural society which includes Chinese and Indian minorities.