Malaysia to review caning sentence against model

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ANG: Kartika Shukarno boarded a police van on Monday morning, convinced that her 20 month ordeal would end this week.

The 32-year-old Muslim Singaporean resident was to be punished for a religious crime she committed nearly two years ago, until she was informed an hour later that she would have to wait another month.

The sentence had not been cancelled, but postponed until after the Muslim Holy month, Ramadan.

KARTIKA: I want to talk about how very sad I am [at] that time. How they treat me like as what I did cannot be forgiven.

ANG: Kartika Shukarno requested for her caning to be executed in public. To how far her request would be considered, officials have yet to announce their decision.

KARTIKA: They have reasons why they give this sentence, for Muslims taking alcohol. Because this is the first time, so I request, I request to cane in public, if they want to give lessons to Muslims so I also want to give lessons to public.

ANG: Authorities arrested the part time model and mother of two for drinking beer at a Malaysian hotel in 2007. Malaysia's Sharia law forbids muslims from drinking alcohol.

Shukarno Bin Abdul Mutalib, Kartika's father, says while he disapproves of the caning, he just wants the saga to be over for his daughter.

MUTALIB: I've followed their ways their law, come to caning I want to ask them back, 'This caning, is [it] proper, or not?' I want to ask them, I do not know. I'm still in this country, I'm still under their country. Some say it's ok, some say if the caning like the Taliban, it's not nice. But like I said using the Sharia one is nice. Our Islamic is different from the other country, our Islamic is a soft Islamic, like our Islamic is ok, but they never show which is the proper one. I also do not know how the caning come I do not know.

ANG: Ivy Josiah, executive director of Women's Aid Organisation Malaysia, says the authorities now have more time to reconsider Kartika Shukarno's punishment.

JOSIAH: During the month of Ramadan, there will be some thinking around, was this punishment necessary. So I think it also has to do with the public outcry both internationally and locally and the compelling reasons that have been cited by quite a number of people, not just women's groups, but academics, Islamic scholars, society and legal minds that the whipping itself, or rather the chaining of Kartika to an order to whip is 'ultra vires' - meaning, illegal itself.

ANG: Dr Hamidah Marican, director of Sisters in Islam, says Kartika Shukarno doesn't deserve to be caned.

MARICAN: My question has always been, why pick on Kartika, why cherry pick her? Based on my conversations with her, I understand that she only consumed one glass of beer, however she, in the report says she is being charged with drinking three glasses of beer. Also there is also no evidence to show that Kartika disrupted the peace of the place, or she was violent in nature, so again the question comes to why Kartika, when there are so many Muslim men who are drinking.

ANG: Malaysia Women's Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil told the ABC she is unhappy the way things are turning out.

SHAHRIZAT: Kartika did not appeal nor did she ask for revision. This has caused a big uproar in the country and I as the minister in charge for women, I am not happy at all. I have called for Kartika as the offender to ask for a revision and appeal of the sentence. This case does not represent what happens in Malaysia, it is an isolated case which the Government is viewing with great concern because Islam has a caring face.