8/28/2009

It takes a girl to defy the whole establishment

I have avoided posting about this story in case it will affect her chances against formidable foes. But her case was mentioned yesterday and I thought things have worked to her favour and her steely guts to defy two powerful authorities should be acknowledged. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno faces off the Muslim clergies and the Malaysian Govt and defy them to cane her in public. Yes, she broke a religious law, forbidden to drink alcohol, in her case, a glass of beer. And the punitive sentence was caning, 6 strokes. And she stood on her high pedestal and told the authorities, go ahead, cane me in public, get it done with. Her case was prominently reported in many newspapers and media and becomes an embarrassment to the Malaysian Govt. This is a govt that is torned between trying to be secular and trying to be Islamic at the same time, one day clenching their fists shouting Allah is Great and another day calling for moderation to avoid being branded as another radical Islamic state. Kartika's caning was postposed in view of Ramadan. And the Home Affairs Minister Hishamuddin in a press interview declared that his ministry did not have the expertise to do the caning. PM Najib advised Kartika to appeal against the sentence. And to date she refuses. She is still calling the religious authority to cane her in public. I dare you!. And to complicate matter, in order to cane her they had to imprison her, which added to her punishment. Now the Malaysian authority is caught with over punishing her for a minor crime. To go ahead with the caning would put Malaysia in the same league as radical Muslim states. How could Malaysia, a model of modern Islamic state be seen to uphold an infringement to a religious law by a woman, for drinking beer, and deal with her so harshly? Would Malaysia take the moderate path or push ahead with its religious laws? That is a tricky question. And Kartika is still standing tall, as the little girl that takes on a govt and a religious order run by powerful men.

13 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

If they cane this lass with lots of gumption, they might as well go the whole hog and cane half of the population of KL, especially those in suits, but still a muslim, imbibing their favourite brew in choice 5 star hotels.

Anonymous said...

The canning is still pending, if appeal goes through then fine otherwise cane quickly and quitely without the media circus and follow prophet Ayyub(job) way of canning(minor offence).

The law must stand and cannot discriminate against the weak,fools,poor and ordinary insan to make an example rather start at the top(suits, elites etc etc)

Double standard

Anonymous said...

Diversion here, redbean - but I think you would enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0

See how many parallels you can decipher from the video with S'pore.

Wally Buffet said...

Hehe,

That was a hilarious rollicking good video. The comedian is in fact making fun of ALL governments on this planet Earth so why is it so peculiar with Singapore?

Since the dawn of history when our cavemen ancestors started electing someone to run the village, the decadence started setting in.

IMAGOD said...

This case is being covered extensively by the Australian media.

In this instance, Najib gets small applause from me to taking a "softly-softly" approach by suggesting that this hapless woman lodge an appeal. By uing the softly-softly approach, Hajib has given the religious [**expletive**] some face saving, and has virtually condoned a possible path to "negotiation" by using state courts to "moderate" Sharia Law.

I have an unapologetic anti-religion stance, and thus leave is up to any reader to choose his own form of hate-speech or ridicule directed at the religious "authorities" of the world.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Hey folks, grab a beer or two or more... and celebrate a small "victory" for common sense (? perhaps) T.G.I.R!

Anonymous said...

Redbean:

I would not call Kartika's drinking offence a crime.

An offence in the Islamic Belief should not be read as a crime, the latter, in my opinion means an act that offends sensibility, harms and hurts the wellbeings of others.

Yes; to me an offence is not equal to a crime.

patriot

Wally Buffet said...

Matilah,

Good post on your blog but why cannot comment huh?

Cheers! Burp!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

well patriot, it depends on your definition of what is a crime. as long as the state or courts of law has to uphold it and the offender can be arrested, it is a crime against the state. that's why the home affairs minister has to come in and side step the issue by claiming his ministry has no expertise to cane the offender. or else, it is his job to cane her.

Anonymous said...

It's good that they give some considerations and thoughts to the canning with regards Kartika's drinking offence(against Muslim Laws). It is just my view that the canning punishment is really too heavy. Had Kartika got herself drunk elsewhere(Non-Islamic Countries), she would not have been deemed to have committed any offence at all, though she is a Muslim.

Hope the Authority in Malaysia could be more understanding.

Redbean Sir, your point about crime is noted.

patriot

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous 10:05, that video should be sung at our NDP. it will be hilarious.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Hi Wally

Only users with google accounts can comment. No anonymous comments are allowed.

Please let e know if you have problems. I welcome comments for or against my position (it's only one man's opinion).

Cheers

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

P.S. to wally: I've chhanged the settings to allow all registered users including those using open ID. Anon comments are stil disallowed