When I was in Hong Kong during the last few days, I was asked by a number of fellow consultants and journalists about the Pahang Syariah High Court judge's ruling to impose a whipping sentence against a Muslim lady, Ms Kartika, who was caught drinking beer at a lounge.
The news item was the only major report on Malaysia in CNN and BBC in the last few days. I am not going to repeat some of the remarks made by these international journalists and consultants here. The remarks were not very favourable to Malaysia. A friend told me that it was even worse than medieval.
Dr Mahathir was right to call the sentence too harsh. He added that the sentence had given a wrong impression of the Islamic law. Dr M said Islam is compassionate to first time offenders. It should focus on rehabilitating the offenders rather than humiliating them.
Malaysia's international image as a Muslim-majority democracy will surely be tainted if the authority is adamant to carry out the sentence. How would Kartika's children feel to see their mom being whipped in public for her beer drinking offence? Are those committing incest and adultery being treated the same?