LETTERS: Whipping for the commission of serious offences has been viewed with disdain by many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights activists as inhumane and barbaric.
It is undeniably excruciatingly painful, leading to extensive soft tissue injury, so much so that some convicts would rather trade a couple of extra years behind bars in lieu of whipping.
I would like to advance another reason why whipping should be abolished.
As a young and somewhat naive houseman at the Taiping General Hospital, I was assigned to witness a whipping case at the Taiping Prison in the mid-1960s.
The prisoner was strapped with two pillows, one above his buttocks and another below it to prevent any injury to organs outside the target area in the event of a miss-hit.
The whipper positioned himself strategically behind the hapless prisoner and lashed out at him but missed and got the pillow instead.
The point is that a missed hit is counted as a stroke and he is not allowed to repeat it.
Usually the prisoner closes his eyes, clenches his fists and stiffens his body in anticipation of the stroke but in this case the prisoner appeared cool and relaxed with his eyes open and could even afford a wry smile.
During the course of the medical examination of the prisoner, I casually remarked to him: "You are lucky. Missed your flesh."
He replied: "What good luck? Medicine your only expertise. My friends have already settled the matter outside."
DR A SOORIAN
Seremban
Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times