Aceh Reports Fewer Abuse Cases by Islamic Police in 2013

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan, January 12, 2014

Acehnese people are seen at the Baiturrahman mosque, the largest mosque
in Banda Aceh, on Nov. 1, 2013. (EPA Photo/Hotli Simanjuntak)

Banda Aceh. A rights group on Sunday reported a significant drop in the number of abuse-of-power cases in 2013 involving religious police officers enforcing shariah-inspired bylaws in Aceh.

The Aceh office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said there were only five cases involving members of Aceh’s shariah police last year, compared with 50 cases in 2012 and 47 cases in 2011.

“Members of the Wilayatul Hisbah (Wi-Ha), or shariah police, engaged in raids to apprehend violators of Islamic shariah, but those [raids] didn’t trigger as many cases of violence as in the previous years,” Destika Gilang Lestari, the coordinator of Kontras Aceh, said on Sunday.

“This is probably because of an improvement on the side of [Wi-Ha] members in performing their duties safeguarding Islamic shariah bylaws in Aceh.”

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia adopting some shariah-inspired bylaws, which are principally concerned with acts such as gambling, consumption of alcohol and extra- or non-marital relationships.

“There were actually 47 [potential] cases monitored in 2013, but only five cases were eventually classified as violent…” Destika said.

The five cases, Destika said, included three assaults on people alleged to have been found in violation of the religious laws.

In the fourth case, a person was paraded around their village after they were allegedly found to have engaged in non-marital sex. In the fifth, effluence was thrown at a person for the same offense.

Last year saw an “interesting trend”, Destika said, as many people demonstrated a lack of respect for the authority of the Wi-Ha.

“They fought back by throwing stones and the attack on the Wi-Ha office in Langsa, for example,” Destika said.

An incident in Langsa made headlines last month when several young people descended on the local Wi-Ha office to free four of their peers who were earlier taken into custody after being arrested at a music event.