Kuala Lumpur  - An Islamic court in the central Malaysian state of Pahang has sentenced an Indonesian national to one year in jail and six strokes of the cane for consuming liquor in public, a news report said Tuesday.

Nazarudin Kamaruddin, who has lived in the state for 33 years and is a permanent resident, was sentenced Monday by Pahang's Sharia High Court, the New Straits Times daily said.

Nazarudin, 46, was arrested last month for consuming samsu, a potent, locally produced liquor.

Muslims are forbidden to consume alcohol, and under the state's Islamic law, the offence carries a maximum sentence of a 5,000-ringgit (1,351-dollar) fine, three years in jail and six strokes of the cane.

"The sentence meted out to him is not meant as punishment but to serve as a lesson," judge Abdul Rahman Mohamad Yunos said.

Abdul Rahman is the same judge who sentenced a 32-year-old part-time model last month to six lashes of the cane after she pleaded guilty to drinking beer in a nightclub.

Kartika Sari Sewi Shukarno, who is a single mother of two, has refused to appeal, and her sentence was scheduled to be carried out after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Court officials did not set a date for the caning of Nazarudin, who would be the first person jailed for consuming alcohol.

Malaysia is predominantly Muslim but has large minorities of Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. It is struggling to maintain its image as a modern Islamic country as critics slam the sharia court decisions as too harsh. (dpa)