Found this at the BBC archive from June 2005:
Aceh gamblers caned in public:
Fifteen people were caned for gambling offences outside a mosque in the town of Bireuen on Friday.
Aceh implemented partial Sharia law in 2001, as part of an autonomy deal offered by the Jakarta government. The province has a higher proportion of Muslims than other areas of Indonesia, and many Acehnese practice a stricter version of Islam.
The 15 men were flogged with a rattan cane on a specially-constructed stage in front of the Grand Mosque following midday prayers on Friday. Another 11 people are due to be caned at a later date.
According to reports from the scene, the event was more of a festival than a punishment exercise. According to a BBC reporter in Bireuen, Maskur Abdullah, crowds of people, including children, watched the proceedings - cheering and booing as the culprits were brought onto the stage to receive their punishments.
One of the convicted men even faced the crowd afterwards and showed told them he had felt no pain, our reporter says.
On Thursday Bireuen's district chief Mustafa Geulanggang explained why the authorities had decided to implement caning as a punishment.
"It's not about pain," he told the BBC. "The aim is to shame people and deter them from doing the same criminal acts in the future."
Kind of reminds me of old skectes and paintings of beheadings in England and France or perahps a public flogging there; all the peasants gathered around in a party like atmosphere. The sad thing is that statistically speaking, punishments like this or even the death penalty have little effect in crimes of passion or in the heat of the moment.
