KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The court-ordered caning of a Malaysian Muslim woman for drinking alcohol is part of a move toward stricter enforcement of Shariah law, analysts say.
The woman, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, has been sentenced to a caning after being caught drinking beer at a Kuala Lampur bar -- an act prohibited under Shariah, or Islamic, law. The first public caning of a Malaysian woman comes amid a backdrop in which competing political parties are positioning themselves at the true guardians of the faith, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
Farish Noor, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told the newspaper the caning "is just a sign of what is to come."
The newspaper said Malaysia's ruling National Front is jousting with the Islamist faction of the opposition alliance to portray itself as the true political face of Islam. The Front says the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, is backsliding on Islamic ideals by compromising with its secular allies.
PAS, meanwhile, accused the National Front of being too corrupt to govern according to the principles of Shariah law, the Journal said.
