On the caning punishment

On the caning punishment

The decision taken to administer caning in Aceh province in
public places for Muslims who fail to carry out their religious
obligations is not only a backward step, but it is positively
archaic. This was perhaps a golden opportunity for Islam to show
that it can be a caring and flexible religion, as it would have
been very easy to come up with a punishment that was not
associated in any way with violence. Why not get the offenders to
do some community work as punishment, if indeed punishment is at
all necessary.

There is little doubt that "doing good" is far better than
praying for it, as each man surely has the right to worship in
his own way, to his own God as he sees fit. It won't take very
long before a number of spies come forward who will gladly report
the absence of whoever to the necessary Islamic police, who in
turn will no doubt drag the offender to the designated place and
thrash the living daylights out of him.

Next stop will be the women, and who knows how far that will
drag the free society down the hill toward the next Taliban
regime. Aceh has been fighting for years against oppression, and
now, just when there is a glimmer of hope for a peace settlement,
they want to start another oppression of their own.

DAVID WALLIS, Medan, North Sumatra