Posted on 08/22/2009 10:31:18 PM PDT by george76
Some time in the next few days, a Malaysian Muslim woman named Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno will be caned under Islamic laws for drinking glasses of beer in a hotel bar, and a number of political analysts say the country's increasingly fractious politics are partly to blame.
The ruling National Front and the Islamist component of an opposition alliance are competing to place themselves as the guardians of a faith that has taken an increasingly political face in Malaysia over the last 20 years.
The National Front accuses the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, of giving up some of its Islamic ideals by showing a willingness to compromise with its secular allies in matters such as whether convenience stores can sell alcohol in majority Muslim areas, or the location of pig abattoirs – sensitive issues in this multiracial society.
The PAS, meanwhile, accuses the National Front and its main party, the United Malays National Organization, of being too corrupt and entrenched in the trappings of power to govern in accordance to the principles of Islam.
Farish A. Noor, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, argues that the scheduled caning of Ms. Kartika "is just a sign of what is to come." Both PAS and UMNO, he argues, are pushing for the wider use of shariah law in Malaysia.
The battle between UMNO and PAS over who has a greater claim as defender of the faith ...
The sentence handed down on Ms. Kartika, meanwhile, has triggered a debate on whether Islamic laws are too severe for such a multi-racial society.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Multi-racial, multi-religous nations should have a constitution that is race and religion neutral.
What's to debate? Islamic laws are too severe -- and too STUPID -- for any society.
this woman is a ‘babe’ and the mother of 2 children .
The news claims that she invites public caning so that it will be a message to moslems . But it is not indicated what message that she hopes this to be ? That drinking , especially by women , is wrong? Or that the stupid heinous applications of Shariah law in South east Asia are medieval and archaic ?
A curse upon whomever brought that faith to this region
4 or 500 years ago and a pox on all their descendants
Are you paying attention, Europe?
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