1ST SPEAKER

GREETING
A very good morning to the
mr/mdm speaker, our
distinguished panel of adjudicators,
members of the opposition, fellow
teammates and members of the
house.

THE MOTION
Our todays motion is THBT that
teachers should be given the
authority to cane in order to instill
discipline among students. We, the
government strongly support this
motion and fight to convince the
house to accept the motion today.

SPECIFIC DEFINITION
To begin let me first define the key
words and phrases in todays
motion. According to the New
Oxford Dictionary, teacher is
defined as a person whose job is to
teach, especially in a school or
college. Then, the phrase Authority
to is defined as the permission to
do something. The word cane in
our motion today refers to a thin,
flexible stick of wood designed for
corporal punishment. It is
incomplete for me not to define the
term corporal punishment that
comes alongside with the word
cane. Therefore, Corporal
punishment is defined by the UN
Committee on the Rights of the
Child as any punishment in which
physical force is used and intended
to cause some degree of pain or
discomfort, however light." Lastly
the word Discipline, means the
practice of training people to obey
rules and behave well. Our stand
therefore, members of the
parliament, is that teachers should
be given the permission to use
caning method in order to
discipline the students.

SPECIFY THE ROLE
MOTH,
as the Prime Minister, I will present
one argument on the very vital
reason of why the teachers should
be given the right to use caning
punishment to discipline the
students, which is caning in schools
is never the same as caning in
prison as it is conducted according
to specific guidelines and the main
objective is to make the students
realize their mistakes.
Next, our deputy prime minister
will present two arguments which
are teachers caning the misbehave
students to give others lesson and
also to discipline others indirectly.
Finally, our third minister will
counter argue all the
misconceptions presented by the 1
st

and 2
nd
speaker of the opposition.
Now, I will proceed with my first
argument.

MOTH,
Educating human being, especially
in the context of correcting human
behavior should find a balance
between counseling approach and
strict punishment, including caning.
Any imbalance between these two
shall meet with failure in producing
students which are holistically
developed. As the saying goes,
prevention is better than cure.
I contend that teachers must be
provided with a symbol of authority
that the students understand,
respect and fear. The cane fits this
role perfectly. In fact, it has no
purpose other than to instill
discipline and maintain order!
Even a long wooden ruler would be
suitable to encourage the students
to comply with the teachers
demands. But the teacher must be
given the authority to use that cane
or ruler to punish within
predetermined guidelines.

MOTH,
According to the President for Dean
of Secondary School, Datuk Azam
Mat Atan, the reintroduction of
caning to students with
disciplinary problems (after
counseling failed), is seen to be very
effective to discipline the students,
especially those who are in the
upper form. However, he
mentioned that, the implementation
of caning should take into account
the students have been given verbal
or written first and second
warnings on their misbehavior.
Every caning punishment should be
carried out by Disciplinary Teacher,
witnessed by the schools Board of
Discipline. Gentle reminder to the
opposition, caning the students who
misbehave is not conducted
without proper guidelines and not
being done at the joy of heart.
I love to review the statement made
by our ex-deputy minister of
education, Dr. Mohd Puad Zarkashi,
that caning in schools is never put
into halt because caning in schools
is totally different from the one
conducted in prisons. In schools,
caning is more towards instilling
discipline among students while in
prison, the main objective is to
punish. The MOTH should
understand that students who
misbehave in schools are not
criminals; therefore the way caning
is conducted between school and
prison should never be looked the
same. According to Dr. Mohd Puad,
majority of the parents support that
caning to be introduced again,
although little groups of individuals,
including lawyers are against the
decision. Even the President of
Sarawak Teachers Union (STU),
William Ghani Bina in a statement
to Bernama suggests that caning
can also be carried on female
students in secondary school
looking at the fact that social
problems are on a worrying stage,
among them, tomboys who are
really thick-skinned in making lot of
disciplinary cases. Caning among
female students should be carried
on the students palm and not on
other body parts.

MOTH,
Caning in instilling discipline
among the students has long been
enforced through the 1981
Disciplinary Act and Guidelines, and
proven to be the best method to
overcome disciplinary problems
among the students. Actually, it
requires the cooperation from
every party, namely the students,
teachers and parents. As if there is
no remedy to solve this ever
occurring problem. Schools
reported discipline cases among
students almost every single day.
From the aspect of implementation,
the caning punishment will be
conducted with highest
professionalism, including inviting
witness. Teachers who carry out the
punishment must be highly
qualified and conduct the caning in
accordance to the rules and
guidelines set upon by the Ministry
of Education.



MOTH,
With all the facts, it can be
summarized that teachers should
be given the authority to can in
order to instill discipline among
students. This type of punishment is
to make the students realize that
they have gone wrong although
they had been given warnings and
advices before. It has become
parents nature to love their
children, but we cannot deny the
fact that their love is always blinded
with overly care and sympathy.
This will only bring doom to the
students future. Every individual
should be more open-minded in
accepting this kind of punishment.
Students who misbehave nowadays
view their school as if the school
has no strict punishment in the
effort to instill discipline. Therefore,
it is clear here that caning can
produce students who are highly
discipline and have a brighter
future ahead.
In conclusion, I deem for the MOTH
to gladly accept my motion today.