Even jeans are too alluring for the Sharia police in Aceh

03/06/2010 / INDONESIA

Even jeans are too alluring for the Sharia police in Aceh

A Sharia policeman lectures girls for wearing jeans. Photo: Joko Sutranto.

Sharia police in the Indonesian province of Aceh are stopping women dressed in jeans and forcing them to change into long government issued skirts.

The semiautonomous province on the northern island of Sumatra has the highest proportion of Muslims in the country. In order to bring an end to decades of fighting between Muslim separatists and the army, the national government consented to the adoption of Sharia law in Aceh in 2002. To enforce the new laws, a special unit of police, called Wilayatul Hisbah or "the vice and virtue patrol", was established.

On 26 May, the West Aceh district of the province intensified their crackdown on women wearing tight fitting trousers by issuing the local police with 20,000 long skirts. Women who are stopped at checkpoints for breaching the bylaw are now furnished with a skirt and have their trousers confiscated. The women cannot be arrested however.

Along with the law - which was passed in 2005 and demands loose fitting, long-sleeved tops and a long headscarf which covers the neck - the Aceh province has also brought in laws which ban homosexual relations, the consumption of alcohol, and relations between unmarried people of the opposite sex. The most recent law, passed in parliament in September 2009, will see adulterers stoned to death if it is passed by the provincial governor.

The regulations have shocked human rights activists in the rest of Indonesia, which is a secular state whose 200 million Muslims follow a moderate form of the religion.

Contributors

Sri Wahyuni

Fashion police in action

A checkpoint, or “razia”, on the Simpang Mesra crossroads in Banda Aceh on 4 May 2010, where 194 people were stopped, lectured and registered as offenders (the government-issued skirts were yet to come into force). Photos taken by Joko Sutranto. Posted on Flickr by anonymous.

Police check each vehicle.

A lecture is given to jeans-wearers.

The offenders' names and ID numbers are registered.

“People here are surprised by just how constraining Islamic law is in practice”

Sri Wahyuni is head of women's affairs at the Aceh People's Party and a researcher at the University of Syiah Kuala.

The problem is that the clothing policy in Aceh is confusing for women. For a start, almost all women in Aceh wear long pants rather than a skirt. After all, our traditional dress comprises long pants and a blouse. No skirt. Secondly, regulations differ between districts; but in West Aceh [where the skirts are being distributed] the law applies not only to residents but also to Muslim women who are only visiting the district.

As a result, people are nervous. On the one hand they are happy because their religious beliefs are being formally acknowledged, but on the other hand they are surprised by just how constraining Islamic law is in practice. What we have in Aceh is a silent majority; people keep their mouths shut because they're afraid to resist and to get called an ‘enemy of Islam'. There is no institution that is tough enough to fight against this level of intimidation.

As for the national government, Jakarta does not care that Islamic law is causing trouble here. But the locals still have a very limited understanding of Islamic law; all they ‘know' is that Islamic law is a good thing. But until now they never thought about the practical implications of it.

I think I will leave Aceh if the situation gets worse. I worry about the development of my two daughters. I want them to live in an environment that reflects freedom, where there are no religious or faith-bound restrictions."

Sri Wahyuni

Caught trying to jump a checkpoint

An Aceh-based blogger posted this photo of a newspaper report on his blog. The woman pictured had tried to drive through a checkpoint without stopping. One of the policemen attempted to stop her, knocking her off the vehicle. The blogger who cited the story prefers to remain anonymous.

Comments

remember there were 12

Submitted by haley (not verified) on Fri, 18/06/2010 - 17:57.

remember there were 12 tribes chosen by god...your going to find more than one "right" way to worship him. Jesus son of god have faith in him and you be saved

Modesty

Submitted by alanseago on Fri, 04/06/2010 - 15:00.

I remember, not too many years ago, British magistrates commenting that teenage girls in miniskirts were asking to be raped.
Fashion should not be the affair of religion or law.

sharia

Submitted by d (not verified) on Fri, 04/06/2010 - 01:18.

jesus is lord not sharia law give your heart to jesus

Divisive Religion

Submitted by Tim (not verified) on Fri, 04/06/2010 - 08:33.

As can be seen from the "d's" comment and other comments on this page and also in the text of the article above, religion is divisive, tribal and backward. Stop believeing the priests and Imam's and start thinking for yourselves.

Islam and life

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Mon, 07/06/2010 - 22:13.

Tom, Tim you forget that you still alive by islam prevleges. Therefore you should know that without Islam in this world is without birds without legs, arms,ears, eyes, and other senses.
Ali, USA

What kind of barbaric law is this?

Submitted by Katharina Sri (former: Noor Aza) (not verified) on Thu, 03/06/2010 - 21:06.

CORRECTION: in Islam, the sexist and primitive Arabic-veil is actually ideologically used to sexualize women/girls only as sex-objects, because instead of the Muslim men taking their own matured and civilized responsibilty, and self-developed conscience and consciousness to control their own individual lust and choices, it's women/girls who are burdened with guarding the Muslim men's sexual lust, desire and choices! See –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282639/Muslim-hate-preacher-let-Britain-despite-Tories-pledge-radicals.html

Allowed into UK, the preacher who backs Bin Laden

By Dan Newling
Last updated at 3:52 AM on 31st May 2010

A radical Islamic preacher who has publicly declared his support for Osama bin Laden is to be allowed to lecture in Britain.
…….Extremist Zakir Naik….. The 44-year-old has also claimed that Western women make themselves-more susceptible to rape' by wearing revealing clothing…….”

Where in Qur'an does it say

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Thu, 03/06/2010 - 19:59.

Where in Qur'an does it say that jeans are not allowed? When did pants become a "no, no" for women? In short, the laws of this region is not sharia as it is labeled, and if it is fiqh how are they being established to reflect or mirror what they call sharia? It seems that there are other influences in the law making of this region.