OPPapers.com

J Andy Kane

Contrary to modern world opinion and trends, Singapore has an established system of corporeal punishment, specifically, caning. Caning in Singapore is administered across the bare seat. The prisoner is first stripped naked and fettered by leather straps to a large frame. The apparatus resembles two H’s joined at the top and extended at the base. By way of wrist shackles, he is held down in a bent-over position with his buttocks protruding. He is then beat by a trained warder with a 4-foot length of rattan which has been soaked in water to be supple. In case the prisoner loses consciousness, there is a trained medical professional on hand in order to revive the accused to finish the sentence.
The caning officers, or warders, are specially trained for their function. They are usually well-built and hold high degrees of martial arts. They must pass through various training before becoming accredited. Their ultimate aim is to achieve maximum pain with the least permanent damage.
Once the prisoner is secured, the warder will take up position, standing about five feet away. When striking, the officers use their full body weight, not just the strength of their arms. When the cane hits the bare buttocks, the skin breaks, leaving a white line and then a flow of blood. The better trained warders will strike on different spots, avoiding already open wounds.
One recipient of a caning described the experience as follows:
The first stroke came and the pain was unbearable. If I was not tied up, I would have climbed the wall with my bare hands. I thought that nothing could be worse until the second stroke hit me. Then I thought that I was going to die. By the time the third came, my body was just a lump of pain and the other strokes did not make any difference. Each stroke was a stroke of hell, which I will never forget as long as I live.

Why do some modern countries, where collective sentiment is presumed to be more lenient or urbane, actually have a very repressive...