British man sentenced to 'barbaric' 24 strokes of the cane on his bare buttocks over drugs offences in Singapore
Caning has been a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore ever since the British colonial rule, and it seems that the rule has backfired. This time a former British ex-public schoolboy, London-born Ye Ming Yuen, is at the center of a major diplomatic row after being sentenced to 24 strokes of the cane on his bare buttocks for drug offenses in Singapore.
As the case has quite expectedly sparked the early flames of a rift between the UK and Singapore, it has also compelled Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his officials to intervene in the case as they "strongly oppose the use of corporal punishment".
Judicial caning is one of the most severe forms of corporal punishments in Singapore, and while Malaysia and Brunei, too, are known for their insensitiveness when it comes to punishing the guilty, Singapore stands out for its use of caning as a disciplinary measure in prisons, and to punish male convicts under 50 years of age if they are found guilty for a wide range of crimes under their Criminal Procedure Code. It is also used as a form of legal punishment for minor crimes in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) where it is conducted in the SAF Detention Barracks.