Malaysia Boleh! Malaysia Cane!

Rattan. Leather. Plastic.

You name it, my bottom has tasted it.

And if you asked which one I liked most, I would probably crown the rattan cane as my favourite..

(Leather belts or plastic pipes are literally a pain in the a**..)

The cane was a revered symbol in my household. 

Whoever who had a cane in his or her hand was seen as empowered and the center of authority.

I never had the chance to touch or hold the cane ( I was always the one on the receiving end ) maybe cause my parents kept in hidden away on top of a five feet refrigerator..

I wished secretly that I would take that cane and break it into two..One day...*evil laugh*

Writing this post brings back nostalgic memories..

I was always caned as a child. Its either I broke a porcelain figure, a cup, did not clean up my room, talked back to my parents or fought with my sister. 

I was caned up until I was 12 years old. Now you would think I was a really bad child because my mother resorted to caning even until I had hit puberty..The fact is that she knew she could not hit me with her bare hands because she revealed that her hands were in agonizing pain after hitting my butt that my dad had to apply ointment later after the smacking. I'm sorry that I was a fat kid. Fat kids have their advantage too!

The chances are when I look back, I was never that rebellious rude child going around kicking cats, dogs and cows..I was a studious kid who was polite to my teachers with good behaviour in school..So why the caning? Just because it inflicts pain, a child associates the pain with the mistake he or she had done? But again, would I be the way I am today if my mum has not disciplined me the way she did when I was younger? Would I be a spoilt brat or would I turn out better without the caning? 

Which actually brings me to what I just read today..There's an issue of the refugee swap between Australia and Malaysia that brought me to this article: Gruesome Punishment In Malaysia

Caning is rather a norm in Malaysia. We read about it, we hear about it, but I've never seen someone being caned by the police. After watching the video, I was petrified and disgusted at the practice. The wounds on the man's buttocks?! I believe criminals (murder and rape specifically) deserve to be caned but imposing caning on refugees? That's just way overboard! The fundamental human rights; dignity and worth is snatched away simply because of the inability to produce proper papers. Now where is the justice?

You may question me of my double standards where murder and rape convicts deserve to be caned. I believe that if you take away the dignity and worth of another person, then your rights to claim your self worth is automatically void. 

Yes, I believe that the article tries to invoke outrage and criticism towards our country's method of punishment and it is biased at times but ladies and gentlemen, it is the true reality of our homeland. The article highlights Malaysia's issues with corruption and violation of human rights. 

The sad thing is that the true perpetrators are those holding the cane instead of the ones at the receiving end.
How often do you hear normal citizens like you and me harassing a refugee?  

Now how often do you hear the authorities betraying the trust of vulnerable people instead of safeguarding their rights?