Muslim model to be caned for sipping suds

Take Walt's word for it. The woman (how can you tell? ed.) shown in the AFP photo at left is a model. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno lives in Malaysia, where there is a dual legal system that permits Sharia law to be imposed on Muslims like Kartika.

Unfortunately for her, Sharia law and Islam frown on drinking alcohol. Perhaps "frown" isn't a strong enough word. Kartika hoisted a brew in a nightclub in the eastern Malaysian state of Pahang last year, and was hauled before a Sharia court where she was fined the equivalent of $1400. She was also sentenced to six strokes of the cane!

She will be the first (but likely not the last) woman in Malaysia to be caned under Islamic law. Although the punishment is to be administered in a women's prison, the Malaysian mother of two says she wants to be caned in public. "It will be a more effective way to educate Muslims not to drink if I am caned in public. I want to send this message to other Muslims and I am sincere," Kartika told AFP.

"I am willing to be caned publicly or in front of a mosque, but the prosecutor has told my dad today that this cannot be done. I also requested for journalists to witness the caning in prison but it is not allowed."

However, Kartika says, her request has nothing to do with her modelling career, nor has she made any arrangements to have it posted on YouTube. "I am not thinking about popularity or modelling, I am only thinking about my religion and want to tell Muslims to stay away from alcohol," she said.

Walt recalls that a year or two ago some Muslims in the Canadian province of Ontario were agitating for the recognition of Sharia law in the province's legal system. Of course it would only apply to Muslims...like Kartika.