Beer drinkers to be caned

2009-01-13 14:08

Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian religious court has sentenced a man and a woman to six strokes of the cane for drinking alcohol, in a rare decision in the multicultural nation, a report said on Tuesday.

Mohamad Nasir Mohamad, a 38-year-old father of four, and 22-year-old waitress Noorazah Baharuddin, were separately found drinking beer in pubs last year in central Pahang state.

A third accused, part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old Singaporean permanent resident, has also been accused of the same offence and faces a decision on May 4.

The New Straits Times said the Sharia High Court in Pahang handed down the sentences on Monday and fined the pair 1 400 each.

"The caning is to shame them and should be done at any of the prisons in the country," judge Abdul Rahman Yunus was quoted as saying by the daily in his ruling.

He said the sentence was intended as a deterrent to other Muslims, who make up the majority of the population in Malaysia.

The New Straits Times said this was the second time such a sentence has been handed down, after the same judge sentenced two Muslim brothers to six strokes of the cane in 2005 when they were caught drinking.

However, the caning has yet to be carried out as the brothers are appealing the decision.

While Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, with large Indian and Chinese minorities, alcohol is widely available and Muslims are rarely punished for consuming it.

"It's rare but it's within the law and Muslims are subject to such law in this country," lawyer Pawancheek Merican, a sharia law committee member of the Malaysian Bar Council, told AFP.

Salahuddin Ayub, a lawmaker and youth chief of the opposition Islamic party PAS said he "agreed" with the court ruling.

"The ruling only concerns Muslims and it does not affect the non-Muslims. It is to remind the Muslims not to drink," he told AFP.

Malaysia has a two-track legal system, with the civil courts operating alongside state-based Sharia courts in which only Muslims can be tried for religious offences.

In the civil courts, caning is carried out with a long, thick length of rattan which breaks open the skin and leaves lasting scars.

"However, under the sharia law, the caning is more to teach and bring shame to the person rather than to inflict pain," lawyer Pawancheek told AFP.

The judge said in the New Straits Times report that the cane to be used on the convicted pair would be not more than 1.22m long and 1.25cm thick, and that the offenders would be allowed to wear their clothes.

- AFP