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 percent 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 ($1,420) 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," Kartika, 32, told Reuters in an interview at her father's house in a rural Malay village, about 300 km (186 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur.
Amnesty International criticised on Friday the punishment as "degrading" and said the caning comes at a time when the role of Islam in Malaysia is assuming greater importance. 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.
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