Criminals convicted of sex crimes and fraud will be caned under proposals voted on in a referendum in Taiwan. Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament voted on Friday to hold three controversial referendums, including one on caning those guilty of sex crimes and fraud, and another to revive nuclear power, which could be held later this year.Referendums are held every few years in the nation, most often after citizens collect the required number of signatures to back a proposal. Lawmakers can also initiate them, however, as was the case with the three measures voted on this week.The referendums must be formally approved by the election commission which will set the voting date, and there is no guarantee that if they pass the measures will enter law.The move comes as Indonesia's Aceh province has drawn widespread condemnation for its use of public caning under its strict Sharia Law. There is, however, a relatively high threshold for approval in Taiwan which has thwarted some previous referendums.Taiwan holds local elections for city mayors and county chiefs on November 28, and the three referendums are likely to be held on the same day. A woman become the first person to be publicly caned in Indonesia's Aceh province for 'committing obscenity live with a man on social media' under its strict Sharia law Chilling images show her kneeling and screaming in agony as a masked Sharia police officer repeatedly brings the cane down across her back Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that enforces Sharia law, under which same-sex relationships and sex outside marriage are criminal offencesTaiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), proposed the canning and nuclear referendums, the second of which calls for the government to abolish its previously declared 'nuclear-free homeland' policy.The nation shut down its last nuclear reactor in May 2025. It came under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) policy of creating a 'nuclear-free' Taiwan by 2025.The third referendum passed, proposed by the small Taiwan People's Party (TPP) which generally votes with the KMT, is on implementing traffic fines in order to improve road safety.Lawmakers from the DPP voted against the holding of all three referendums.Turnout for referendums is key, which is why the opposition pushes to hold them on the same day as local elections.For a referendum to pass, at least 25 per cent of the island's roughly 20 million eligible voters need to vote in favour. Therefore, there must be at least about five million 'yes' votes, and 'yes' votes must exceed 'no' votes.Last August, an opposition-backed, stand-alone referendum to reopen Taiwan's last nuclear plant failed because it did not reach the legal threshold to go through. A man convicted of violating Sharia law for livestreaming obscene acts on social media was caned in Banda Aceh, Aceh ProvinceIf referendums pass, in theory the Cabinet has three months to send relevant legislation to parliament for approval. In 2018, voters approved referendums that opposed marriage equality.But same sex marriage ended up being legalised the following year because parliament voted to enforce a court ruling that it was unconstitutional to block it.Indonesia has faced intense criticism over its public caning in the country's Aceh province. Caning, though not a legal form of punishment in Indonesia, retains strong support in Aceh – as under a version of Sharia Law, imposed after the province was granted special autonomy in 2001.In July, a woman became the first person to be publicly caned in the province for 'committing obscenity live with a man on social media' under its strict Sharia law.The punishment was handed down after she and her partner were accused of kissing during a TikTok livestream.Images show the woman kneeling and screaming in agony as a masked Sharia police officer repeatedly brings the cane down across her back. An offender grimaces in pain as he is whipped in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on ThursdayHer face contorts in pain with each strike before the punishment becomes too much to bear and she loses consciousness.Dozens of onlookers watched the caning, with some calling for the officials who carried out the punishment to 'whip stronger'.It is unclear how many of the 21 lashes she was sentenced to the woman had received before she fainted.She is seen collapsing to the ground clutching her back as a woman behind her rushes forward to catch her.The woman then lies motionless on the floor as a medic examines her to determine whether she is fit enough for the punishment to continue.Even if she requires medical treatment, she will not escape the sentence, with any remaining lashes postponed until she is deemed well enough to complete the caning.Rows of police officers watched the punishment from their seats as it was carried out in public.The woman's partner was also caned over the TikTok livestream, while four other convicts also received lashes.The couple was reported to the authorities after they were seen kissing during a livestream on the video app TikTok, which prompted an investigation that led to their punishment, the city's sharia police head Muhammad Rizal told reporters on Thursday.'They clearly violated the Islamic sharia,' Mr Rizal said, adding that it was the first time in the religiously conservative province that people were punished for violating sharia law through social media.Acts of physical intimacy such as kissing, hugging or touching between men and women who are not husband and wife are forbidden in Aceh, the only province in the Southeast Asian country that applies a version of the Islamic law.Amnesty International Indonesia spokesman Haeril Halim said the punishment for the couple was 'a horrifying act of discrimination'.'This shows that the Aceh Islamic Criminal Code (Qanun Jinayat) has expanded its reach to target peaceful expressions in the digital sphere with the caning of the young couple,' he said in a statement to AFP.He called for the government to end the use of caning, adding that corporal punishment 'has no place in a just and humane society'.