Malaysian Muslim woman to be caned for drinking beer

A Malaysian Muslim woman who will be caned next week for drinking beer has defiantly asked that the punishment be carried out in public in a case that is fuelling debate about tolerance in this multi-racial country.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno will be the first Malaysian woman to be caned under Islamic laws applicable to Malaysia's Muslims, who account for 60 per cent of the 27-million population.

She said the 20-month ordeal added to her distress, but she respected the law banning alcohol for Muslims and was determined to go through with the punishment - six strokes of the cane.

The mother of two, who also paid a 5,000 ringgit (€990) fine, asked for the punishment, usually carried out in a closed prison, to be done in public.

"I never cried when I was sentenced by the judge. I told myself, alright then, let's get on with it," Mrs Kartika, 32, said.

Mrs Kartika, a Malaysian citizen married to a Singaporean, is a Singapore resident. Religious authorities caught her drinking at a hotel in Kuantan, the state capital of the central Malaysian state of Pahang, on December 11, 2007. The woman said she had three glasses of beer before the hotel was raided. She and the other patrons were asked to provide urine samples.

Mrs Kartika is due to be taken to prison in central Selangor state beginning on Monday for one week, during which her sentence will be carried out. She will be fully clothed and kneeling and struck on the backside with a small thin cane using moderate force.

Four court appearances over the offence forced her to quit her full time hospital job and she has since had to rely on part-time modelling jobs.

"I only declared that I was a model to protect my full time job... I felt very humiliated because people used my status as a part-time model to publicise my case," she said.

Opinions are divided about the punishment Mrs Kartika faces under Islamic laws some say are too severe and selectively enforced.

Amnesty International yesterday criticised the punishment as "degrading".

One of the main opposition parties wants Malaysia, which has ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities who are not Muslim, to become an Islamic state with sharia laws on punishment.

Despite the prohibition, Muslims can be found consuming alcohol in bars and nightclubs openly in cities such as the capital, Kuala Lumpur, where attitudes are more relaxed.

Islam is the official religion in this country that has a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims alongside civil legislation.