We have two brief clips of real canings in Malaysian schools. Both were evidently captured surreptitiously on videophones.

FIRST CLIP

The first clip, from St David High School in Melaka, shows a mass punishment in the school yard. The picture quality is poor. The boys are seen in rows lying face down on the ground, and a teacher -- allegedly the principal, Mr Chin Kiau, though I have no way of verifying that -- goes along the row of boys with his cane, giving each student one stroke on the backside.

Viewed at a distance, it is hard to tell how effectual this was, but he seems to be going too quickly to be doing it with the care it deserves. My impression is that the strokes are fairly light and that punishment was somewhat symbolic rather than severe.

However, having reached the end of the line of students, it looks as if he is preparing to go around again, telling the boys to stay in position. The clip ends at this point, with the boys who were presumably caned before the clip starts, who had begun to stand up, getting down again for another whack.

The date of this film is unknown. Mr Chin was still the principal of St David in October 2004, according to this web page about the school.

Here is the clip:

SECOND CLIP

This is an even shorter clip (only 3 seconds), but it shows a much more mainstream and probably somewhat more seriously meant punishment, albeit not a severe one as it involves only one stroke of the cane. To judge from the high picture quality, it is of recent date. The school is not identified beyond the fact that it is in Malaysia.

The offending boy has evidently been summoned out of his class to be caned in the corridor, where he has been instructed to hold on to the wall in a standing-up position. This appears to be a favoured CP technique in Malaysian schools - compare this 2003 still picture (which could be posed, but I think it might well be real) of a student receiving a caning in the school office while a fellow offender waits his turn, and this similar picture from the same school.

This very short video clip, at any rate, is undoubtedly "the real thing". As the clip starts, the teacher administering the punishment, who is out of view, is taking aim. He then pulls the cane back so that it goes momentarily out of our sight, and delivers a moderately solid stroke across the culprit's buttocks. There is a very nostalgic noise for many Englishmen of a certain age - the distinctive sound of a rattan meeting the seat of a teenage boy's trousers at high speed.

The student has clearly been told he is only getting one stroke because the instant it has been received he turns round and returns to the class, with the nonchalance that a freshly caned schoolboy always tries to affect.

Because this clip is so brief, it's best to download it for viewing in slow motion or frame advance mode if you want to see the movement of the cane in detail. To download it, go to this page at Google Video and click (twice if necessary) on "Download".

Here is the clip: