Petaling Jaya, Aug. 25 : The story of former Malaysian model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, who is to be whipped in public for drinking beer, has caught international attention.

The news of Shukarno's impending sentence has thrust her into the blog chats across Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Germany, Britain and the US, The Star reports.

CNN, BBC and other leading international television stations have highlighted her case as one of the top stories of the day.

They carried a story of her predicament on Monday, and it was also among the top stories for CNN and BBC, with both websites listing it as the fifth most popularly read story.

A Google search for her full name resulted in 63,900 hits while there were over 1,700 news stories on Kartika.

There was also a Facebook account listed as "HELP Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno" (ANI)