Outcry after Malaysian state issues public caning order under sharia law

Religious authorities in the northern Malaysian state of Terengganu have been accused of acting like the “Taliban”, after a sharia court ordered a 42-year-old father of five to be the first in the state to be caned for close proximity with a woman out of wedlock.

The court on Wednesday ordered the man, a construction worker, to be given six lashes of the cane after he was caught three times committing khalwat, or close proximity between unmarried couples, according to local newswire Bernama.

He will become the first person to be caned for khalwat in the religiously conservative state. Islamist party PAS has governed Terengganu since 2018 and has aggressively lobbied to elevate Islamic law to have equal weight to civil law.

The caning will also be the first time the punishment will be carried out publicly, according to state executive councillor Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi.

The punishment was in line with Islam and also the state government’s policy of empowering Islamic jurisprudence, Muhammad Khalil said.

“We will continue to move forward to empower sharia [law] in the state of Terengganu,” he was quoted as saying by government mouthpiece TRDI.my on Thursday.