UPDATE: Malaysia: Warrant of arrest issued for woman drinking alcohol

Submitted by wluml on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 23:00

Source:

New Straits Times / The Star

The part-time model from Singapore, who is to be caned for having a beer in a nightclub last year, is one step closer to receiving her punishment.

The Syariah High Court has ordered for Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, to be detained for seven days effective Aug 24 in preparation for being whipped six times.

The order was obtained following an application by Syarie deputy public prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi, who filed it at the court here yesterday.

The court also granted the prosecution’s application for Kartika’s caning to be carried out within the seven days of her detention at the women’s prison in Kajang, that it be carried out by a female officer and for her to be released as soon as the punishment was meted out.

The application was heard before Syariah High Court Judge Justice Datuk Abdul Rahman Yunos in chambers.

On July 20, Kartika had been ordered to be caned and fined RM5,000 for consuming alcohol at a hotel night club in Cherating.

She was arrested by a team from the state religious department at 1.20am on July 12, 2007.

Although Kartika paid the fine, she did not appeal against the whipping order.

The mother of two was charged under Section 136 of the Pahang Islamic and Malay Traditional Practices Enactment (Amendment) 1987.

Under this section, those found guilty of consuming alcohol can be fined up to RM5,000 or jailed for a maximum of three years, or both, and sentenced to six strokes of the rotan.

The sentence for consuming alcohol was made stiffer when the Islamic Religious Administration and Pahang Malay Tradition Enactment was amended in 1987.

The punishment is provided for under Section 125(4) of the Syariah Criminal Procedure Enactment 2002, which spelled out how the caning should be carried out.

In Islamic law, the cane should not be thicker than the little finger on the hand and the cane cannot be lifted so high that the upper arm is away from the armpit.

19 August 2009

Source: The Star

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A sentence not all it's been whipped up to be

"Uncoling faster than a snake striking, the whip lunges forward, tail singing in the air. Its journey ends with a crack as distinct as lightning, punctuated by a scream so profound it rips the sound barrier.

Could this be the syariah whipping that theoretically awaits part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, sentenced to six lashes for consuming alcohol?

Er... no.

The reality of whipping under syariah is that it is actually rather light.

In fact, the term "whipping" is inaccurate, because in Malaysia it is done with a rotan (rattan cane).

It is not flogging or flaying, and broken skin is not allowed, says Wahid (not his real name), who metes out 100 strokes every week as a Kajang Prison whipping officer.

"Syariah whipping is more like caning naughty schoolboys.

"In syariah, the punishment is not in the force of the whipping, but to bring shame."

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, caning is physical punishment in the strictest sense and the officer must use as much force as he can muster.

So, the power behind an ordinary criminal whipping (in civil law) comes from the wrist, arm, shoulder and the swing.

But, for syariah offences, it comes from a fairly limp wrist.

In the syariah whipping administered by the prison authorities, the rotan has the diameter of a little finger and is thinner than the one used for criminal offences, which is as thick as a thumb.

The officer has also to exercise a great deal of restraint.

"In syariah whipping, you cannot raise your hand so high that your upper arm moves away from your armpit." An imaginary book clutched under his armpit would not drop, he said.

Unlike in the civil criminal whipping, in which the offender is bound to a frame and his buttocks exposed, syariah whipping only requires a man to stand and a woman to be seated.

The offender must be properly dressed according to Islamic precepts.

The whipping can be inflicted on any part of the body, except the face, head, belly, chest or skin. A pregnant woman cannot be caned until two months after delivery.

But while a syariah whipping may be milder, it still requires a great deal of discipline and training, says Wahid.

"Prison officers are called to execute syariah whippings in Kelantan because we are trained to do it."

And even though the whipping can be administered by a civilian, Wahid thinks this is not a realistic move.

"I think it would be very difficult, unless you practise often. Even (someone) who has witnessed whipping many times wouldn't be able to do it properly."

A syariah whipping would not need a great deal of accuracy, not being limited to just the buttocks.

But Wahid feels that somehow, it would be an imperfect execution.

"It would be lacking in skill; in art," says Wahid.

Islamic Development Department (Jakim) director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz says the ideal method of syariah whipping is even more gentle than the syariah whipping that is practised in Malaysia.

"In Malay, whipping is rotan (caning), so people think that the whipping implement must be a rotan (rattan cane). But actually, originally, the whipping implement should be just a switch, or even cloth twisted together, since it is not meant to physically harm the person," says Wan Mohamad.

In fact, in a story told of Prophet Muhammad, who wished to express his anger at the behaviour of his wife, he is reported to have hit her with a handkerchief, which caused both of them to laugh, and this resolved the issue between them.

Because of this, Wan Mohamad says the hardness of the rotan used by prison authorities is an issue. Although the rotan adheres to the condition of being not longer than 1.22 metres, excluding the handle, and not thicker than 1.25cm in diameter, in syariah, the rotan cannot have ruas dan buku -- that is, it must not have joints, since a branch that has joints is considered mature and hard.

But the rotan used has ruas dan buku. "The whipping implement is supposed to be soft and supple, so as to inflict the least pain," says Wan Mohamad."

26 July 2009

The New Straits Times