Illustrated by Daryln @chokoilatte

In Malaysia, it is perfectly legal to hit a child.

This might not seem like a groundbreaking fact – countless of us have been under the threatening control of the rotan or the looming palm of your parents and teachers. To us, getting disciplined in this way is nothing out of the ordinary and as far as some are concerned, it is not wrong either. Based on the Education Regulations (Student Discipline), all parents are expected to accept the fact that public schools have the legal right to inflict school punishments, and to extreme measures, permission for schools to cane a child. According to a response to the highly controversial “Spare the Rod” article published on The Star Online, parents agreeing or disagreeing with such ‘barbaric’ ways of disciplining, “really does not matter”.

Corporal punishment – which refers to this kind of physical punishment – has been a debatable and thorny issue in our culture for generations. It is a rod burrowed deep in our education system, coercing students into obedience and submission under their superiors. It comes in many forms: caning, slapping or pinching – anything that causes physical pain onto the person. Just by simply reviewing the elements of corporal punishment, it makes plenty sense why this method of punishment should not be acceptable in schools and in homes. So why is it still used? The question now asked is this: is there any benefit for this form of violent punishment?



Solely on a physical level, it is problematic on the child’s vessel. When one is so young and so precious, corporal punishment inflicts pain on children where the whole point is to condition the children to fear the consequences of their bad actions. However, some practices of corporal punishment go overboard and end up physically harming the child and giving them battle marks when they are only at such at tender age. It then subjects children to the frank questions of their peers. Uncomfortable questions.

“Are those cane marks?”

“Why are your eyes so swollen?”



Sahil, a student who studied in an Indian government school, shared that his teachers would throw hard objects such as dusters or books at students to make them behave. Another government school female student also confided that a teacher yanked at a schoolgirl’s ear so hard that she started to bleed. An even more serious case, 11-year-old Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddaf in 2017, almost faced death due to physical punishment. In essence, corporal punishment puts children in risk of the irreversible outcome of death.

A study exploring the negative scientific impacts of corporal punishment was made by Akemi Tomoda, which showed that harsh corporal punishment reduced children’s gray matter. As gray matter becomes reduced or slowed down, especially during a time of rampant and speedy growth experienced in maturing children, children may process information in their brain slower. This affects their critical thinking and the ability to absorb details at a faster pace. As such, the application of corporal punishment in the disciplining of children could actually hinder the development of a growing child .

There have also been countless scientific studies on how harmful corporal punishment can affect be to a child mentally. According to the American Psychological Association, children’s exposure to this corporal punishment will develop their own penchant towards violence instead of correcting their juvenile behaviour. Furthermore, it becomes the starting ground of of mental disorders. Research found that 2-7% of psychological disorders such as depression, bulimia, personality disorders, and intellectual disabilities are linked to such physical and harsh punishments in childhood mentioned above.



“[Corporal punishment] gives results, but it causes trauma in the child’s life later on,” cautioned Nik Soraya, an alumni of a Chinese government school.

Mental health has been treated as a myth in Asian communities for as long as one can remember. It is dismissed as something unimportant, a mere "snowflake millennial" concept that is taken too seriously by the younger generations. Thus, the older generation regards these disorders as “flaky” and weak. Thus, they will always believe that corporal punishment is an indisputable way to educate their child for generation after generation.

Corporal punishment is like a gauze that can only staunch the bleeding from the flesh wound. It cannot treat the cancer of defiance and disobedience – it is not that simple. There are other ways to discipline, such as compassion and understanding. We are the byproduct of our children, the tried-and-tested of corporal punishment beings. Is it finally time we adopt more compassionate ways of disciplining?