Kartika to discuss caning with royals tomorrow

A Malaysian model who was sentenced to be caned for drinking beer will have a royal audience tomorrow to discuss her fate, six months after the thrashing was suspended, her father said.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 33, was ordered to receive six strokes by a religious court last year, triggering an uproar among human rights groups who urged authorities to drop the sentence.

Kartika was to have been the first woman to be caned under Islamic law in Malaysia but in a surprise move, three other women were caned last month for having sex out of wedlock.

State media has reported that Kartika's sentence, which was put on hold pending a review, would only be carried out after she met with the royal rulers of Pahang state where she was caught drinking beer at a hotel bar.

"We have been contacted to meet with the Pahang crown prince tomorrow as Kartika requested an audience with the royals a few months ago," her father Shukarno Mutalib told AFP today.

Under Malaysia's monarchy, the state sultans - who take turns to serve for five years as king - are also in charge of religious affairs in their state.

"Kartika will be accompanied by her lawyer. We are not sure yet of the meeting agenda but the prince has reportedly said they will discuss the case, so there may be a decision whether or not to cane my daughter," Shukarno said.

The 33-year-old mother-of-two stared down religious authorities after being convicted, saying she was ready to be caned, refusing to lodge an appeal, and challenging them to cane her in public.

But she won a surprise reprieve in late August when she was detained and then abruptly released by religious officials who had planned to take her to a jail where she was to undergo the thrashing.

The government said at the time that the sentence was "too harsh" and could damage Malaysia's reputation.

However, it has defended the caning of the three other women on February 9 at a women's prison outside the capital Kuala Lumpur. The women had all had children out of wedlock.

The case has fuelled debate over rising "Islamisation" in Malaysia, where religious courts have been clamping down on moral offences as well as a ban on Muslims consuming alcohol that had been rarely enforced.

- AFP