Red Haired Girl On The Roof Terrace With The Rattan Deckchair And Flowers

The flexibility and durability of rattan canes make them an effective instrument for inflicting disciplinary pain (caning). A rattan 4 ft (1.2 m) long and half an inch thick is used for judicial corporal punishment in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. It is soaked in water before use to make it heavier and even more flexible. This punishment is delivered to the offender's bare buttocks. It was a rattan (not bamboo, as widely misreported) that was used for the caning of Michael P. Fay in 1994. It is also used to discipline recalcitrant soldiers in the Singapore Armed Forces.
A somewhat thinner rattan cane was the standard implement for school corporal punishment in England and Wales, and is still used for this purpose in schools in Singapore, Malaysia and several African countries.