Model to Be Caned For Drinking Beer

Updated: Thursday, 20 Aug 2009, 3:00 PM PDT
Published : Thursday, 20 Aug 2009, 1:54 PM PDT

* By LILY FU

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A Muslim model has become the first woman sentenced to a caning after she admitted to drinking beer at a Malaysian resort.

According to the Telegraph , Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, who lives in Singapore with her husband and two children, has been sentenced to receive six lashes next week at a Malaysian women's prison. Kartika paid a fine of about $1,400 and declined to file an appeal, saying that she just wants to get matters over with.

"I accept the punishment," she said. "I am not afraid because I was ready to be punished from day one. [The authorities] hope to use my case as a way to educate Muslims. So go ahead. I want to move on with my life."

Kartika was arrested last July at a hotel nightclub in Cherating after the state's religious department conducted a raid. Even though alcohol is served at tourist bars and hotels, Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol.

"This is the first case in Malaysia. It is a good punishment because under Islamic law a person who drinks commits a serious offense," said prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi.

Women's groups are outraged at the caning decision. "Did she harm anyone with her drinking?" a writer named Mariam Mokhtar wrote in a letter to the New Straits Times newspaper . "Her crime is between her and her God. Let her receive her punishment when she eventually meets her Maker ... The worse crime is that we, and our society, allow and condone such terrible things to continue under the guise of 'protecting the religion.'"

Normally the kind of caning administered to serious offenders like rapists breaks skin and leaves permanent scars. But the Times reports that Kartika will be wearing clothing, and the caning is meant to embarass more than hurt her.

In 1994, American Michael Fay was sentenced to a caning in Singapore after he was convicted of theft and vandalism . His case attracted widespread media attention as Americans were largely unfamiliar with caning as a way of punishment.

Michael Jackson To Be Buried Thursday

Updated: Thursday, 03 Sep 2009, 10:29 AM PDT
Published : Thursday, 03 Sep 2009, 9:01 AM PDT

* Reporter: Phil Shuman
* Video from: Good Day LA
* Posted By: David Dain

Glendale (myFOXla.com) - Michael Jackson will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Phil Shuman has a report from the cemetary.