July
23
2009
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Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno wants authorities to carry out the penalty quickly so that she can resume her life with her husband and two children. — PHOTO: HARIAN METRO
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KUALA LUMPUR- A MALAYSIAN woman sentenced to flogging for drinking beer has accepted the Islamic court’s order, saying she wants the punishment to be carried out soon, news reports said on Thursday.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, was arrested on charges of drinking beer after Islamic authorities raided a hotel nightclub last year. She was sentenced Monday to six lashes with a rattan cane after pleading guilty in the Shariah High Court.
Consuming alcohol is a religious offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslims. Most alcohol offenders are fined, but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning.
Some politicians and women’s rights activists have criticised the religious court’s sentence, calling it too harsh.
Caning is usually reserved for men in various crimes ranging from rape to bribery. But several Islamic lawyers have insisted that the penalty for Kartika is fair, saying she will be whipped with a thin rattan cane that does not cause severe pain.
Kartika told reporters in her northern home state of Perak on Wednesday that she wants authorities to carry out the penalty quickly so that she can resume her life with her husband and two children.
‘I will accept this earthly punishment,’ the national news agency Bernama quoted her as saying. ‘I want to advise youngsters to learn from my experience, not to repeat my mistake and cause shame to yourself and family.’ Kartika’s lawyer could not immediately be contacted on Thursday.
Rattan canes are made from palm plants common in tropical parts of Asia. They have been used for decades for corporal punishment, but offenders in serious crimes are flogged with thicker canes that can cause bleeding and scars.
Kartika was the only Muslim caught in last year’s raid at the Pahang nightclub. Malaysian clubs and lounges typically serve alcohol and are not legally required to check if customers are Muslim before serving them, so the hotel nightclub operators were not charged with any offense.
The judge in Kartika’s case did not elaborate on why he imposed a relatively severe sentence, but local media noted that he had a history of being tough on alcohol offenders. — AP
March
10
2010
Oleh Raja Norain Hidayah Raja Abdul Aziz
am@hmetro.com.my
2010/03/10 HARIAN METRO (MYMETRO ONLINE)
IPOH: “Saya tidak bercadang untuk merayu (hukuman sebat) kerana bagi saya isu ini tidak lagi timbul buat masa ini kerana saya sudah menghadap Tengku Mahkota Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah dan juga Penasihat Undang-Undang Pahang bagi mencari penyelesaian kepada masalah ini.
“Saya tetap berpegang teguh kepada kenyataan saya sebelum ini dan saya tidak berhasrat untuk memikirkannya, namun jika Sultan Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah mahu mengampunkan saya, saya terima,” kata bekas model sambilan, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor, 33, mengulas kenyataan Ketua Pendakwa Syarie Pahang, Datuk Abdul Rahim Jaafar yang meminta Kartika membuat rayuan kepada Sultan Pahang untuk tidak dikenakan sebatan.
March
10
2010
BERITA HARIAN ONLINE
Isnin, March 8, 2010
IPOH: Bekas model sambilan, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor, 33, tidak bercadang untuk merayu ke atas Sultan Pahang berhubung hukuman sebat yang sedang dihadapinya.
“Saya tidak bercadang untuk merayu (hukuman sebat) kerana bagi saya isu itu tidak lagi timbul buat masa ini kerana sudah mengadap Tengku Mahkota Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah dan juga bertemu Penasihat Undang-Undang Pahang bagi mencari penyelesaian kepada masalah ini.
“Saya tetap berpegang teguh kepada kenyataan sebelum ini (tidak merayu) dan saya tidak berhasrat untuk memikirkannya namun jika Sultan Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah berkenan mengampunkan, saya terima,” katanya.
March
5
2010
ABC News
Sarah Dingle reported this story on Thursday, March 4, 2010 18:52:00
MARK COLVIN: Eight months ago a sharia law court in Malaysia sentenced a young woman to be caned for drinking a glass of beer.
After several months of public argument the sentence has still not been carried out but there has been a damaging international outcry and Malaysian political and religious authorities have reacted by trying to shroud the case in secrecy.
March
5
2010
THE NUTGRAPH
24 Aug 09 : 6.40PM
By The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality
THE Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) welcomes the National Women’s Day celebration on 25 Aug 2009, and Independence Day on 31 Aug 2009.
The celebrations this year is bittersweet. JAG was galvanised over the past few weeks in dealing with a seemingly intractable issue: violence against women. This is a form of discrimination that is a barrier to women’s ability to enjoy all their rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men.
In this instance, it was the state-sanctioned violence against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno. Kartika pleaded guilty to a charge of drinking alcohol, an offence under the syariah law in Pahang. In an effort to deter other Muslims from drinking, the syariah court ordered the maximum sentences to be meted out: RM5,000 fine and six lashes of the whip. However, on 24 Aug 2009, Kartika’s sentence was stayed for reasons that are still not clear.
March
5
2010
Published Aug 26th, 2009
Women, Family & Communitry Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said at a press conference Tuesday that the order to whip Kartika six times gave the Syariah Court a “cruel.
This video was made by thestaronline
Puan Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno is a Muslim woman of Malaysian origin now resident in Singapore. She is married to a Singaporean, and they have two children. In the past her main job was as a hospital nurse, but she has also worked as a part-time model.
In 2007 she was arrested in Cherating in Pahang, Malaysia, for drinking Tiger beer in a hotel bar, and in 2009 she was sentenced by a religious court to six strokes of the cane and a fine. Only Muslims are subject to the religious court system, which has nothing to do with the ordinary criminal courts in Malaysia.
March
5
2010
| Centre for Indepent Journalism (CIJ)
http://www.cijmalaysia.org/content/view/532/8/ Local Alerts |
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| Thursday, 04 March 2010 | |
| The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is concerned about The Star newspaper’s spiking of a column about the shari’ah law, following the show-cause letter issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for an earlier article on a related topic. Once again, the media resorts to self-censorship in favour of the state and Muslim pressure groups, instead of upholding its check and balance role. On 2 March, social activist and commentator Marina Mahathir, who has been writing for the Star for 20 years, updated on her blog that her Musings column — slated for publication on 3 March in The Star — was spiked. Marina said the reason for The Star’s censorship was to avoid the risk of losing its publication permit after a show cause letter was recently issued over an article in February by its managing editor P. Gunasegaram questioning the caning of three Muslim women under the shari’ah law.
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March
5
2010
Budi bicara Sultan putus hukuman sebat Kartika
KARTIKA melambai selepas menghadap Tengku Abdullah di Kompleks Islam Sultan Ahmad Shah, di Pekan, semalam. |
Berita Harian
Khamis, March 4, 2010
PEKAN: Hukuman sebat terhadap bekas model, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno akan ditentukan menerusi budi bicara Sultan Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah yang mempunyai kuasa untuk meneruskan hukuman atau memberi pengampunan.
Tengku Mahkota Pahang, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, bertitah Sultan Pahang sebagai Ketua Agama Islam negeri mempunyai kuasa memberi pengampunan mengikut Seksyen 133 Enakmen Tatacara Jenayah Syariah Pahang 2002.
Baginda bertitah, hasil pertemuan antaranya dengan Kartika Sari, di pejabat Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Resam Melayu (Maip) di sini semalam akan dipersembahkan kepada Sultan Pahang dalam tempoh dua hari sehingga Jumaat ini sebelum sebarang keputusan berkaitan hukuman Kartika diputuskan.
March
4
2010
MALAYSIAN INSIDER
SELASA, March 2, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, 2 Mac — Kumpulan Tindakan Bersama Kesaksamaan Gender (JAG) dalam surat terbukanya kepada Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein mempersoalkan motif melaksanakan hukuman sebatan ke atas tiga wanita Islam awal bulan lalu, sambil mendakwa ia dilakukan dengan “rahsia.”
Surat terbuka itu bertarikh 25 Februari itu menyentuh empat perkara.
Perkara pertama yang ditimbulkan dalam surat itu mempersoalkan mengapa hukuman sebatan itu dilaksanakan dengan begitu rahsia di Penjara Kajang.
“Mengapa begitu berahsia? Pengumuman pelaksanaan hukuman sebatan hanya dibuat selepas lebih seminggu tiga wanita dan empat lelaki disebat secara berahsia dan melakukan ini dengan senyap mungkin menggambarkan bahawa kerajaan mahu menyembunyikan layanan tidak adil dan tindakan menjatuhkan maruah daripada penilaian orang ramai,” kata surat terbuka itu yang salinannya diedarkan kepada media.
March
4
2010
BLOGGING In Islam, Law on Thursday, 25/02/2010 at 23:41
Today, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Majlis Agama Islam Selangor, MAIS) had lodged police reports against The Star and Sisters in Islam for moronic accusations.
Part of the reports was because of The Star’s Managing Editor, P. Gunasegaram’s writing in his column Question Time titled Persuasion, not compulsion.
The Star has since apologised (to whom we do not know, for the people have never asked for it) and taken down the article.
We are reproducing the article in full here to let readers make up their mind whether the police reports are justified.
We want readers to decide: did P. Gunasegaram do any wrong?
Because we certainly do not think so. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
March
4
2010
4 Mar 10 : 8.00AM
By Deborah Loh
CAN non-Muslims speak about Islam? For that matter, can faithful, practising but non-scholarly Muslims, or Muslim women, or Muslim human rights activists, speak about Islam? As long as the fundamentals of Islam are given due respect, can’t there be room for comment or to express concern about aspects in the implementation of Islamic law, which, directly or indirectly, has affected or can affect all citizens, even non-Muslims?
Apparently, the answer is “no”. There seems to be growing hypersensitivity over different views on issues involving Islam, whether about using the word “Allah“, or the caning of women. Any contrarian view is deemed as an insult to the religion.
It takes far less than these examples. Recent muscle-flexing took place over a column in The Star expressing concern about the first time women were ever caned in Malaysia. Following police reports and pressure from the Home Ministry, the paper apologised and retracted the article.
