The scheduled caning next week of a Malaysian woman for drinking a beer in violation of Islamic law underscores the tensions between Kuala Lumpur’s desire to promote Malaysia as a moderate Muslim society and the increasingly tough actions taken by local religious police and courts.

The case of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno has riveted Malaysia in recent weeks after she was sentenced to six strokes of the cane for consuming alcohol in public at a hotel bar in Pahang, the home state of Najib Razak, the country’s urbane prime minister. It is the first time such a punishment has been ordered for a woman in Malaysia for any offence.