An Acehnese woman (R) rides on the back of a
motorcycle in Lhokseumawe city in Aceh, the only province to implement Islamic
sharia law in Indonesia April 12, 2013. While an official regulation is yet to
be issued, police are already pulling women over and forcing them to sit
sideways, with their legs dangling by the rear wheel
Lhokseumawe. As the
sun sets over Aceh province on the westernmost tip of Indonesia and the call to
prayer blares from mosque speakers, five policemen leap onto the back of a
patrol truck, ready to round up lawbreakers.
In khaki uniforms and black boots, the men circling the town
of Lhokseumawe are not safeguarding the streets from vandals or thieves. They
are sharia police and their job is to ensure no one breaks the Islamic law of
the land.
The police swoop in on a young woman, buying food
at a sleepy street stall.
Her crime? She is exposing her hair, so she is
sent home to fetch her headscarf, as men in T-shirts look on silently, eating
cobs of corn.
Rights activists complain that Islamic shariah regulations
in Aceh are becoming increasingly sexist and unreasonable, and that the shariah
police — who operate independent of the regular police — are picking on women.
But headscarves are the least controversial of issues in
Aceh, the only province to implement shariah law in Indonesia, home to the
world’s biggest Muslim population.
In Lhokseumawe, the mayor has called on women passengers to
sit side-saddle on motorbikes, claiming straddling is sexually suggestive,
unfeminine and un-Islamic.
“If a woman straddles, the sensitive parts of her body will
push up against the man driving,” Lhokseumawe government secretary Dasni Yuzar
told AFP, making hand gestures in front of his chest to signify breasts.
“This is not allowed under Islam and is not in accordance
with our local customs,” he said.
A women passenger riding with a female driver too should
side-saddle, he said, while women riding with men should never drive.
While an official regulation is yet to be issued, police are
already pulling women over and forcing them to sit sideways, with their legs
dangling by the rear wheel.
Heri Mutti, one of the shariah policemen, said women who sat
“in a feminine way” on motorbikes were more beautiful than others.
“And it’s our job to make sure they stay like that,” he told
AFP while on patrol.
Most women are complying, with streams of colourful
headscarves atop motorbikes flowing through the streets. While some women are
not bothered by the mayor’s call, many say they are being treated like puppets.
“We’re just trying to get on with life, drop our kids at
school, go to the shops,” said 36-year-old Fauzia.
“Why should the government care how women sit? It’s
annoying,” she said at the helm of a motorbike with her young son in front of
her.
Rinawati, an activist from the Indonesian Women’s Commission
in Lhokseumawe, said the mayor’s side-saddle call and comments like Yazar’s
were examples of how male-dominant governments were hijacking shariah to
control women.
“We’re seeing a trend in Aceh where local governments are
carrying out acts of injustice against women. Islamic shariah here is not
considering the female perspective,” she said.
Women in the district of West Aceh have been banned from
wearing tight trousers and jeans, while several in the province have been
arrested for prostitution for being out alone at night or with men who are not
relatives.
A teenage girl attending an outdoor concert with male
friends last year committed suicide after police accused her of prostitution.
Rinawati fears that women could even be banned from dancing
after North Aceh district chief Muhammad Thalib said recently that women
dancing in public was against Islamic teachings.
His comments have caused confusion in Aceh, which has a
world-famous tradition of dance, raising questions about whether a decade of
shariah law in the province gels with Aceh’s culture.
Yuzar said the two go hand in hand, adding that regulations
such as the straddling ban would take the Acehnese back to its roots, as in the
12th century when Islam first entered the region.
“Many other cultures from both the East and West have come
into Aceh. And the young are adopting Western culture in particular to the
point they are feeling an identity crisis,” Yuzar said.
Women’s rights activists bemoan suggestions that Aceh should
return to the 12th century, but so too does the Aceh government’s shariah
council chief, who fears that local governments are going too far with shariah
regulations and that Aceh has lost its way.
Aceh was given the power to implement shariah law in 2001
under a special autonomy agreement with Jakarta, aimed at quelling a separatist
movement.
How exactly shariah law was included in the deal is shrouded
in mystery, with many Acehnese saying they never wanted it and the rebels never
requesting it.
Most historians say that the deal was made between an elite
few.
“At the time, the feeling was that shariah would bring a
standard of ethics to help the province develop and prosper. That is the
Islamic way,” shariah council chief Syahrizal Abbas said.
“But shariah in Aceh hasn’t moved with the times,” he said,
adding that a movement of Acehnese against shariah was brewing.
“We want Aceh to move forward, and if sharia is implemented
fairly, it can help us achieve a better place for all Acehnese, for women as
much as men.” Agence France-Presse(AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)
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