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Malaysia is making an effort to become tourist friendly

Malaysian officials have changed their minds and will permit Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne to perform a concert in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Earlier this month, the country's Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry labelled Lavigne's show unsuitable, especially since it is scheduled to take place two days before Malaysia's independence day celebrations.

The youth wing of a fundamentalist opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party, had complained the punk-pop performer was "too sexy" for the conservative Asian nation.

On the weekend, however, the cultural officials announced they'd reversed their decision.

Muzahet Masruri, secretary general of the ministry, said on Saturday that after talking with the concert organizers, they decided Lavigne could perform.

He declined to give a specific reason, but said authorities were told the concert organizers had sold thousands of tickets and that if the concert were cancelled, it could hurt tourism.

The Malaysian government has barred Muslims from a Black Eyed Peas concert next month in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, because the event is sponsored by Irish beermaker Guinness.

Malaysia recently launched a crackdown against alcohol consumption among its Muslim majority."Muslims cannot attend. Non-Muslims can go and have fun," said an official at the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture.

The Guinness flagship brewery in Dublin is marking its 250th anniversary with worldwide celebrations, including concerts across Ireland and in at least five cities elsewhere.The brewery is sponsoring the Black Eyed Peas to perform at a theme park near Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25.

The hip-hop group has played in Malaysia before, including a concert in 2007 that all could attend. But the website for this year's concert says "the party is only open to non-Muslims aged 18 years and above."

Tourism boost expected

Government regulations forbid alcohol companies from organizing concerts in Malaysia, but an exception was made for this event because there were hopes it would boost tourism, the official said.Guinness is forbidden from using its logo in concert publicity material, she said

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Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno pleaded guilty to drinking alcohol at a hotel nightclub. She was sentenced to six strokes of the rattan cane for her offense, making her the first woman ever to be caned in the country.

She is a part-time model, who is also a nurse and mother of two Malaysian Islamic law applies to the Malays majority, but not the Chinese and Indian minority groups. As a result, Mrs. Shukarno’s actions put her in violation of the country’s religious law against drinking.As officials appeared at her home to take her into custody about 50 people stood nearby and shouted “God is Great,” and “There is no God except Allah.”The transport van didn’t make it far, stopping after only a short distance. Is appears that an official in charge of religious affairs, Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, intervened at the last minute at the recommendation of the Attorney General. Then, after about an hour of waiting, the van did a u-turn and headed back to her house.