Caught out by the Sharia police in Aceh

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 6 January 2010 - 2:26pm, by Fediya Andina

Photo: Banda Aceh - RNW

Why is wearing jeans and riding a moped without a headscarf now a problem for a woman in Banda Aceh, the Indonesiad city devastated by the tsunami of December 2004? RNW reporter Fediya Andina found out on a recent trip to her native country. The province of Aceh introduced strict Sharia law on 1 January this year.

Read her report:

I look at myself in the mirror. A face with a black headscarf and a long dark grey shawl. I don’t recognise the face in the mirror. Someone tells me it goes with my aura. I could happily provide a thousand reasons why I don't feel comfortable. I walk outside and feel as though many eyes are on me.

I remember when I first arrived at the airport in Banda Aceh. I saw quite a few foreigners. The women were not wearing headscarves: Sharia law doesn't apply to them. I am Indonesian, my hair is black, but I live in the Netherlands. Does the law actually apply to me? I feel like a stranger in my own country.

Knee-length dresses

Zulfikar, my driver and guide in Aceh, starts telling me about the city. He points out various buildings, mass graves, restaurants, shops, cars and motorbikes. Banda Aceh is clearly being rebuilt rapidly. I see a lot of women on motorbikes, wearing long trousers, knee-length dresses and headscarves and a helmet. I gulp. It is 37 degrees. The sweat runs down my face and back.

We go to the part of Banda Aceh which was first hit by the 2004 tsunami. The sea has forced the land back. The white beach has disappeared. Courting couples used to come to the beach. Now there are fences all over the place. The Sharia police regularly patrol the area. The strict Islamic law forbids couples in love to even walk side-by-side, especially if they are young. But of course they do it anyway. In the evenings and at night when the police are less active.

Swimming costume

On one part of the beach I see a family swimming in the water fully dressed. Zulfikar tells me that girls and women in Aceh are not allowed to wear swimming costumes. So they enter the water wearing a blouse, long trousers and a headscarf. He tells me that there were an awful lot of people on the beach on the evening before the tsunami. They may have been doing things that were not appropriate. Perhaps that’s why God was angry, he says. I am surprised. Is this what many people in Aceh think? And does the Sharia give any guarantees for the future?

The rebel in me dares me to wear jeans with a scarf just draped around my shoulders and ride a moped through the streets of Banda Aceh. Together with another girl. Lots of people look at us. Some laugh, others stare in astonishment and incomprehension. A little later my mobile phone rings. Zulfikar warns me that the Sharia police are not far behind us. We should stop somewhere quickly and pretend there is nothing going on.

Pick-up truck

We stop at a food stall. I see a pick-up truck drive past. There are three police officers on the back, two are women in uniform. They are wearing flared trousers. They look at us, stop 50 metres down the road and start watching us. A few minutes later they drive away. Pity. I would have liked to have had a discussion with them.

The next day, I meet a number of former resistance fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). I ask about the Sharia laws. Their answer is crystal clear. The law was not made by the people of Aceh, but by the established political parties from Jakarta. The last parliament, which was not elected by the people of Aceh, wanted to make a good impression on Jakarta. During the conflict, conservative and fundamental Islam was not an issue. There was just one goal: independence from Indonesia. The Sharia was mainly supported by the Indonesian Islamic Party, the PKS.

Governor

To this very day, Irwandi Yusuf, governor of Aceh and former GAM leader, has refused to sign the Sharia law. He wants the newly elected Aceh parliament to amend it. It was supposed to be the first task of the new parliament. Eighty percent of the MPs are from the Aceh Party, which came from the GAM resistance movement.

On the street a group of youths demonstrates against the government, they look like students. They are demanding economic growth, new jobs, better education, health care for everyone and the fair distribution of wealth. At a food stall, I see a group of young girls talking busily. They look fashionable, wearing skinny jeans and headscarves. For them, life goes on, with or without the Sharia.