The furore surrounding a Syariah Court sentence on Kartika Sari Dewi Sukarno should end because she is not the first Muslim individual - let alone woman - ordered to be caned for drinking beer in public, said PAS Youth.

“In 2000, the Johor Syariah Court sentenced a woman (for the same offence) but she appealed against the decision and the punishment was set aside,” said Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan.

He said the judge who imposed the sentence on Kartika - Abdul Rahman Yunus - had sentenced two siblings a few years ago for drinking beer.

“They have filed an appeal but their case has yet to be heard,” he said in a statement, which also claimed that six men had been caned for drinking beer in Kelantan between 1997 and 2003.

NONE Nasrudin slammed claims that there was “selective prosecution” of Kartika (left) , arguing that two others have been found guilty of the offence, committed on the same occasion.

“Both have been fined RM5,000 and (ordered to receive) six strokes of the cane. However, they have filed an appeal to Pahang Syariah appellate court.”

To ensure that the punishment against Kartika, 32, is not more severe than that meted out to the other two, Nasrudin said the Pahang Syariah chief justice is reviewing her case.

He refuted the claim that caning has been dropped in Kartika’s case, saying everything would depend on the judicial review.

On July 20, the Pahang Syariah High Court fined Kartika RM5,000 and ordered her to be given six strokes of the cane after she pleaded guilty to drinking beer at a hotel lounge in Cherating last year.

NONE However, Syariah enforcement officers who arrived to take her to the place of punishment released her temporarily, after receiving a letter from the attorney-general's chambers saying "it was not advisable for her to undergo the punishment during the fasting month".

Kartika, a part-time model, has refused to appeal her sentence and said she is ready to take her punishment. The penalty for her offence has attracted global attention.

‘Aim to educate offenders’

Nasrudin also urged the public not to equate Syariah law with civil law, which tends to “be cruel and to torture offenders”.

“Under Syariah law, when caning is executed, the hand is raised slightly without exposing the armpit. Unlike civil law, Syariah law is there to educate (offenders) rather than to torture them,” he said.

Nasrudin claimed that the Prison Department has trained 171 officers - including two women - to carry out caning.

“A woman officer (once) demonstrated caning in front of a Court of Appeal judge (and) the judge (was) satisfied with the way it was carried out.”

sisters in islam logo He further took to task Sisters in Islam (SIS) and its “cohorts” like the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG).

They have acted “disrespectfully” by questioning the punishment and are therefore in contempt of the Syariah Court, he said, also dismissing SIS’ claim that Syariah law exists to victimise women.

He said JAG has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to urge the government to abolish the Syariah Criminal Offences code implemented in many states.

JAG has asked the government to review whipping as a form of punishment as it violates international human rights principles. These regard whipping and other forms of corporal punishment as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.