Kuala Lumpur, Aug 26 - The Malaysian leadership Wednesday rallied to keep the nation's reputation as moderate and multi-racial following the punishment to an ex-model who could be the first woman to be caned for drinking beer in public.

As the government indicated its intention to revoke the sentence, the woman in the eye of a global storm, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, Tuesday moved a court to stall being accused of running away from punishment.

She refused to file an appeal and said that if the authorities wanted to revoke the punishment, they should do so openly.

'I will not appeal. Carry out the punishment. Don't waste my time,' she told media Tuesday.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the chief judge of a state Syariah appeals court had ordered the sentence to be deferred pending the review.

'The overriding view was that the sentence meted out was too harsh and is not commensurate with the offence,' she said.

'We are equally concerned not only for Kartika Sari, but also for the fact that this one particular case could have damaged the image of Malaysia in its fair and just implementation of the Syariah law.'

As his government deferred carrying out the punishment during the holy month of Ramadan, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said Kartika had avenues for appeal that the authorities could consider.

Malaysia's elder statesman and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the punishment to Kartika of a fine and six strokes of rotan 'might be too harsh'.

'Is not Islam merciful to first-time offenders?' Mahathir asked, adding that fairness and consideration were the main tenets in Islam.

'We will be celebrating our independence this year by flogging a Muslim woman for drinking beer under Syariah law,' he said on his blog.

The Malaysian Bar Council reiterated its stand against whipping and called on the authorities to overturn the sentence.

'Our position echoes international human rights norms that condemn whipping and other forms of corporal punishment as cruel, inhuman or degrading and call for its abolition,' Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan said in a statement Monday.