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