PUTRAJAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein revealed yesterday that the ministry did not have the expertise to execute caning sentence under syariah.
"Not a single prison officer is qualified to execute the punishment," he said.
"I admit that we don't have the expertise. It is impossible for us to carry out the sentence as we do not have the skills or expertise," he said after chairing his ministerial meeting on the National Key Result Areas yesterday.
He said the ministry was originally under the impression that the caning would be conducted by syariah experts rather than the Prisons Department.
Hishammuddin added that the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Mahmood Adam would be discussing the matter with the Islamic Development Department, the syariah court and other experts on the matter.
"In executing the laws under our jurisdiction, we must have all the skills. Frankly, where this matter is concerned, this case is a precedent for the Prisons Department.
"I have told the prison authorities to study and inform the relevant bodies of this inadequacy."
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, a part-time model and mother of two, pleaded guilty at the Syariah High Court in Kuantan to consuming alcohol in public.
She was fined RM5,000 and sentenced to six strokes of the rotan.
However, the caning was postponed on the advice of Syariah Chief Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunus who said it was not suitable to carry out the caning during the fasting month.
Hishammuddin said he would prepare his men for the responsibility.
"But if I am still not happy (with the readiness of my officers), then that is the reality. This is all new to us. Our officers have not had to face this situation before.
"It is all about being fair in carrying out a punishment. Islam asks that it is carried out in all fairness and according to syariah."
Hishammuddin said while syariah caning was new to the department, it was now a new scope for its personnel as there were demands for the punishment to be carried out.
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