Opposition to woman’s leadership of district wanes

Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh | Tue, 10/12/2010 9:42 AM

Opposition by ulema and councilors in Aceh to a woman becoming district head is reportedly weakening.

Anisa, who became head of Pelimbang district, Bireun regency on May 21, 2010, said the ulema and councilors had initially opposed her promotion arguing that it was against Islamic law.

“[Opposition] has declined. Many public figures have come to me and apologized for their previous resistance,” she told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Considered a capable and good leader, Anisa was promoted to head of Pelimbang district by Bireun Regent Nurdin AR.

Anisa was previously head of village administration at the regency, a position that gave her a chance to work with villagers.

“I covered 609 villages across different districts in Bireun. I never encountered any problems at the village level while doing my job,” she said.

She added she was disappointed and frustrated by the opposition. “As a woman I felt I was being treated unfairly. I saw it as an attempt to restrict women in the community,” she said.

Anisa said she had never been deterred by the opposition, which she said was a result of misinterpreting Islamic law.

Luki, from the Indonesian Women’s Coalition of Aceh, blamed flawed interpretations of Islamic law for the objections raised to female leadership.

“Rejecting women’s leadership in Aceh is an ignorant and outdated form of Islamic sharia interpretation,” she said.

According to Luki, there are many examples of the application of Islamic law with no input from women. Women, she said, were often the victims of misinterpretation in the application of allegedly Islamic-based regulations.

“It’s a setback in the application of laws. It’s like we’re going back to the stone age, a premodern Islamic age, in which women were not allowed to lead,” Luki said.

Luki said that there were many religious teachings that needed to be adjusted for the current era.

“Banning a woman from becoming a leader is not practical because election law clearly allows for women’s involvement in politics,” she said.

Nurdin said that opposition to female leadership would not stop him from having female district heads in his regency.

“[The rejection] is the work of a few people who interpret Islamic law incorrectly,” he said.

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