Malaysian Authorities Postpone Whipping of Woman
By THOMAS FULLER, NYTimes
Published: August 24, 2009
BANGKOK Malaysian authorities gave a last-minute, temporary reprieve on Monday to a Muslim woman sentenced to whipping for drinking alcohol in a case that has stirred passions over the increasingly strict enforcement of Islamic law in recent years in the multicultural country.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old nurse who confessed to violating Islamic laws by drinking beer in a hotel lobby, was picked up by prison authorities on Monday but was then quickly released. The authorities said Ms. Kartikas punishment which would be the first whipping for a woman under the countrys Islamic laws would be carried out in September, after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was over.
The sentence remains, Mohamed Sahfri Abdul Aziz, the chief of religious affairs in Pahang state said, according to Malaysian media accounts. She has been released but only temporarily.
The case has drawn criticism from liberal-leaning Muslims as well as the countrys Chinese and Indian minorities, who fear that the country is drifting away from its secular foundations.
Weve allowed this huge Islamic bureaucracy to grow over the last three decades, Amir Muhammad, an author and filmmaker, said in a telephone interview from Kuala Lumpur, the capital. The laws were there to show that this is something we disapprove of. But people did not expect them to be enforced that rigidly.
Ms. Kartika has drawn sympathy among many Muslims in Malaysia, who make up slightly more than half the population of 27 million, because she has repeatedly apologized and offered to have her caning carried out in public as a warning to other Muslims.
On paper, Islamic laws are strict in Malaysia: Muslims can be arrested and punished for snacking during the daylight hours of fasting during Ramadan, being in close proximity to someone from the opposite sex who is not their spouse, and drinking alcohol. But enforcement of Islamic law has been haphazard and many Muslims flout the laws with impunity.
The basic principle is that, if you dont flaunt it publicly, you can get away with a lot, Mr. Amir said.
But the scope of Islamic laws appears to have widened in Malaysia over the past few years. Muslims have been prevented from converting to other religions, officials have banned Muslims from working in restaurants or convenience stores that carry alcohol although this policy has not been fully carried out and religious authorities have questioned whether Muslims should be allowed to practice yoga. When laws are enforced, Malaysians often complain that the elite are often exempted.
Malaysias Islamic laws, which cover marriage, divorce and a specific range of issues related to religious customs, only apply to Muslims. Non-Muslims are subject to the countrys civil laws, which Malaysia inherited from Britain. Foreign Muslim tourists visiting the country, however, are subject to Islamic laws, according to Pawancheek Marican, partner at the law firm Wan Marican, Hamzah & Shaik and a part-time professor of Islamic studies.
Many Malaysian Muslims say they are unhappy with the way Ms. Kartika has been treated and many feel that the punishment six strokes with a cane is too harsh. Among Muslims scholars we are not happy with the way the sentence has been meted out, Mr. Pawancheek said. But no one is questioning the law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/world/asia/25malaysia.html?hpw
