KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Ministry proposed a mandatory caning sentence be imposed on agents who are found guilty of bringing in foreign workers to Malaysia illegally.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the caning sentence is more effective than simply slapping fines in curbing the overflowing entry of foreign workers.
“The proposal will be brought to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and I hope it is accepted after taking into account the uncontrollable influx of foreign workers especially in the various states,” he said in reply to a question by Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Kluang) in the Dewan Rakyat, here today.
Ahmad Zahid said the ministry had no plans to replace caning as the sentence has reduced the number of repeat offenders, especially among drug traffickers.
He stressed that the caning sentence had reduced the rate of repeat offences from 32 per cent to 7.6 per cent.
“We have no intention to replace caning with a lesser punishment, but if the Attorney-General’s Chambers wants to change the policy, then we are willing to accommodate the change,” he said.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid said last year, 8,481 prisoners were sentenced to caning, of whom 2,483 were Malaysians and 5,968 were foreign nationals.
In addition, between 2012 and 2013, the Prisons Department had executed three people of whom two were Malaysians and one a foreigner, he added.
– BERNAMA