The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) is calling for the Pakatan Harapan government to put a moratorium on corporal punishment as it is deemed as cruel, violent and degrading.

In response to the caning of a Lesbian couple who was found guilty of sexual relations between women, JAG said it is absurd for various parties to compare the methods of caning under syariah and civil laws as there is nothing compassionate about caning.

In a press conference at Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, today, Sisters in Islam executive director Rozana Isa said canning under both syariah and civil laws are humiliating.

"Canning is cruel and violent, although it has been widespread that the caning under the syariah law is not as stern as that under civil law.

"But this is no competition on which punishment between the two is less painful and so on. Caning itself is humiliating and the effect of it is not only on the physical but also on the emotional and mental aspects of the person caned," she said.

The press conference was also joined by Empower member Honey Tan, Suhakam commissioner Lok Yim Pheng, and Justice for Sisters co-founder S Thilaga.

Memorandum sent to the PM

Rozana said JAG had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and attorney-general Tommy Thomas, on Aug 30, to stop whipping and end corporal punishment for all offences.

JAG, in its memorandum, also questioned whether reliable legal representation was accessible to the two women in court.

"The question is, as a Muslim, the call for justice is of the utmost importance. The justice must be done. If a person is not able to get a justice in court, and if the person couldn't get a lawyer who could best represent him or her, how can it be said that justice has been done in court?" Rozana said.

Honey Tan (photo) said it is untrue and inaccurate that the federal government is unable to do anything about the state syariah criminal enactments.

She recalled the matter surrounding Act 355, where Hadi Awanglast year tabled a bill in Parliament to increase the powers of the syariah court to mete out punishments.

"The same way the Parliament of Malaysia can actually increase the sentencing capabilities of the syariah court, it can also reduce.

"So what we are calling is for Act 355 to be amended or repealed. Of course, the bigger call by JAG is that we are calling for the AG to review all syariah criminal enactments of the states to ensure that they are constitutional. If they are not, then they should be repealed," Tan said.

Lok said Suhakam would continue to push for the corporal punishment to be halted.

"In relation to upholding dignity, we will do our best to make this call heard loud and clear… Suhakam will not stop here. We'll still continue dealing with it," she added.