Kartika, "Cane me, please!"

Here we are, showing sympathy and pleading for mercy for her, in our blogs and letters to the media, against the sentencing of Kartika, a Muslim woman by the syariah court, to undergo caning for consuming beer and a fine of RM5,000.She had already paid the fine. But there she is, asking the authorities responsible in meting out the punishment, not only to cane her but to do it publicly, so that other Muslim women will refrain from doing the same sin as her! How grossly we had mistaken her 'plight'.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno,32, a Malaysian of Indonesian roots was caught drinking beer in a hotel night club in Kuantan, Pahang by religious officers of Islam on July 12, 2007. Kartika, a mother of two who was working as a model at the time, admitted she had already consumed three glasses of beer when she was caught.

Her punishment, under the Islamic syariah law, calls for six strokes of the cane. Amnesty International has called for the revoking of the cane on her and to abolish it indefinitely.

Why the court has taken over two years to arrive at this decision is quite puzzling. Could it be the workload, or the pressure of imposing the sensitive nature of the punishment?