Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Malaysia on the introduction of public caning in that country.

​As I set out in response to the question tabled by the Honourable Member on 13 September 2017 (PQ 9990); we are aware of the Private Member's Bill proposed by the PAS party in the Malaysian Parliament to expand the jurisdiction of Sharia courts in Malaysia to allow Islamic punishments (hudud) such as lashes. This Bill is unlikely to be implemented without protracted discussion and legal debate. We have a regular dialogue on human rights with the Malaysian Government. We will continue to monitor human rights issues and internal developments in Malaysia, raising our concerns as appropriate.