Beer-drinking model prays

'Sometimes I feel sad and stressed as I have tarnished my family's name. But now after spending time reading the Koran, I feel calm and am not afraid of being caned,' Kartika (left) said. -- PHOTO: AP

KUALA KANGSAR (Malaysia) - A MUSLIM model who is to be caned for drinking alcohol said she is planning a pilgrimage to Mecca, and seeking solace in prayer as she prepares to face her punishment this week.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, will be the first woman to be caned under Islamic law in Malaysia, a moderate Muslim-majority country where the landmark case has caused a national sensation.

She was sentenced to six strokes after pleading guilty to drinking alcohol at a hotel nightclub last year, and is expected to receive her punishment this week at a women's prison in Kajang, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Kartika cried when the verdict was handed down last month but in an interview at her home in a small Malay village, the slim and soft-spoken Kartika was composed about her fate.

'Sometimes I feel sad and stressed as I have tarnished my family's name. But now after spending time reading the Koran, I feel calm and am not afraid of being caned,' she said.

The part-time model and mother of two, who lives in neighbouring Singapore, has called for her punishment to be carried out in public but it is not clear exactly how it will be conducted.

Officials from the sharia religious court are expected to detain Kartika on Monday and take her to prison where she will undergo a medical check.

'I do not know how the caning will be done. No one seems to have any details,' she said.

Islamic scholars have backed the sentence, and said it would be carried out when she was fully clothed and with a cane that is smaller and lighter than the heavy length of rattan used in criminal cases.

Malaysia, a multicultural country with large Chinese and Indian communities, has a dual-track legal system and sharia courts can try Muslims for religious and moral offences. -- AFP