The Kelantan government is looking at gazetting suitable venues, including mosque compounds and stadiums, to carry out public caning.
Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2002 to allow public caning were passed last year.
“This will allow us to carry out public caning, and we are looking into gazetting suitable venues,” he told newsmen on Tuesday.
However, unlike Terengganu, there is no provision under the existing state Syariah enactment in Kelantan to cane lesbians.
“So far there is no provision in the state Syariah enactment to cane women engaged in a lesbian relationship,” said Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs Department chief Mohd Rahim Jusoh.
He said the existing penalty is either a maximum RM500 fine or up to four months’ imprisonment, or both, if caught in the act.
He added that no lesbian couples have been charged in Kelantan in the last decade either.
“But that does not mean the state is ‘lesbian-free’.
“Perhaps they hide their relationship well to avoid detection.“
Or perhaps our periodic surveillance activities, aimed at nabbing those caught in such a sinful act, have served as a deterrent,” he said.
The state religious authorities are also proactive in monitoring transgenders, he said when asked to comment on the public caning of two women in Terengganu.