Jakarta Globe, Josua Gantan, May 11, 2014
 |
A masked and hooded person canes Indonesian food seller Murni Amris for
violating Shariah law outside a mosque in Jantho, Aceh, in this October 1, 2010
file photo. She was found guilty of selling food during the fast month of Ramadan.
(AFP Photo/Chaideer Mahyuddin) |
Jakarta.
The order by authorities in Aceh to have a woman and her married lover caned
for adultery, even after she had been gang-raped by vigilante enforcers of
Shariah, has spurred a maelstrom of criticism and soul-searching about the
place of Islamic jurisprudence in Muslim-majority but secular Indonesia.
The alleged
mob of vigilantes, one of them just 13 years old, stormed into the woman’s home
in the town of Langsa and accused the 25-year-old of having an affair with her
40-year-old companion. The accusation carried extra weight in Aceh as a
violation of the province’s partial adoption of Shariah, which, among other
prohibitions, forbids intimacy of any kind between unmarried couples.
The eight
vigilantes have been accused of gang-raping the young woman and beating up her
companion before marching them to a local police station.
Police
arrested three of the eight men by May 4, including the 13-year-old, and are
still hunting for the others.
But the
city’s Shariah police, or Wilayatul Hisbah, made an announcement of their own:
the woman and her companion would be caned for the original charge of adultery.
“This
judgement raises serious concerns,” says Imdadun, a member of the Jakarta-based
National Commission for Human Rights, or Komnas HAM. “The local authorities
comes across as though they have no sensitivity toward basic human rights, or
even sensitivity toward the purpose of Shariah itself. The purpose of Shariah
is the good of the public and the individual.”
“They are
misusing religion,” says Arbi Sanit, a political analyst from the University of
Indonesia, says of the vigilantes, who rationalized their actions on the
grounds that the woman’s alleged adultery had “tarnished their village’s
reputation.”
“These
people acted worse than animals,” he said. “Religion is meant to humanize
people.”
Imdadun
agreed, saying the danger with basing regulations on a highly subjective scale
of morality allows people to take the law into their own hands.
“Rape is a
violation of human rights, and whatever the reasons were it is also a violation
of Islamic Shariah law. The perpetrators must be severely punished,” he says.
“Where is
their humanity?” says Ruhut Sitompul, an outspoken Democratic Party official
and member of the House of Representatives’ oversight commission on legal
affairs. “I think this whole thing is immoral, it’s inhumane.”
Komnas HAM
notes that while aspects of Shariah are in keeping with contemporary values of
human rights, “there are certain aspects that are not in line with human rights
norms.” The commission warns that rising Islamic conservatism in Aceh could
pave the way for a deeper implementation of Shariah, with even more draconian
punishments for a wider range of perceived offenses.
Rape vs.
adultery
Not
everyone is critical of the decision to cane the rape victim.
Azis
Syamsuddin, the deputy chairman of the House legal affairs commission from the
Golkar Party, accuses human rights activists and critics of Shariah of
overlooking what he believes is the salient fact in the whole saga: that the
woman had already violated Shariah before she was gang-raped.
“We should
not look at this [as a] one-sided [issue],” he says. “The reason why [the
couple] will be punished is because they were being intimate. Under Shariah,
unless you are married, you cannot be intimate. The first crime can’t be
excused just because of the second crime.”
Others more
steeped in the workings of Islamic law disagree.
“They have
to settle the rape case first,” says Solahuddin Wahid, a prominent Muslim
scholar from Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s biggest Islamic organization, and
the brother of the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid.
“That is
far more serious than just being intimate,” Solahuddin says. “The [adultery] is
not as serious, the woman had not done anything [sexual] yet.”
He says
local authorities need to concentrate on arresting those accused of the
gang-rape, and not on punishing the victim.
Imdadun
agrees that rape is more severe than adultery by several orders of magnitude,
and says the planned caning for the lesser offense must be abandoned to reflect
that.
“When a
woman accused of adultery becomes a victim of a violent gang-rape — a crime
that is far more serious — it is no longer appropriate for the woman to be
publicly caned,” he says. “The law is unjust if it continues to punish her.
That is unfair for the [rape] victim.”
Frans
Winarta, a lawyer and chairman of the country’s bar association, known as
Peradi, argues that in light of the rape, the woman should be let go.
“She has
become a victim now, a rape victim,” he says. “Personally, I feel that she has
to be given an exemption [from caning] because she has become a victim.”
Government’s
deafening silence
Neither
presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah nor Deputy Justice Minister Denny
Indrayana would comment on the case when contacted by the Globe.
The
government has repeatedly cited regional autonomy as the reason it refuses to
intervene in regional policy matters, including when local governments flout
rulings by the Supreme Court, as with the closure of churches in Bogor and
Bekasi, or issue bylaws that contradict national ones, as in the adoption of a
separatist flag as the provincial standard in Aceh.
While all
provinces in Indonesia are guaranteed a degree of autonomy, Aceh is one of only
three that enjoys special autonomy (the other two are Jakarta and Papua).
That
concession was granted by the central government as part of the 2005 peace
accord that brought to an end three decades of armed separatist struggle in the
province.
Under that
special autonomy, authorities in Aceh moved to formalize the region’s strong
conservative bent by implementing a limited form of Shariah, which, among other
things, bans close contact between men and women who are not related to each
other; obliges women to wear a head scarf and men to wear long trousers; and prohibits
the consumption of alcohol and the selling and public consumption of food
during Ramadan.
The
Wilayatul Hisbah were established to enforce the rules, and over the years the
group has drawn ridicule for cracking down on things like punk concerts and
skinny jeans.
However,
Shariah enforcement is often spotty in cities like Banda Aceh, the provincial
capital, where women dress in form-fitting jeans, and the head scarf, perhaps
the most conspicuous symbol of Aceh’s Islamic culture and laws, is loosely worn
by some women and not at all by others.
It is a
distinction often lost on critics who falsely assert that Aceh is a sort of
12th-century backwater ruled by Shariah officers.
The
region’s differing views on the importance of Islamic law has caused conflict
in the past. Local authorities said they once uncovered an anti-Shariah
movement on Facebook and efforts to curb mixed sex parties and loud music have
ended in brawls between youths and Wilayatul Hisbah officers.
The
historical lack of a clear call for the implementation of Shariah as well as a
recent history of controversial decisions by Wilayatul Hisbah authorities have
underscored uncertainty about Islamic law in Indonesia.
One set of
laws
Azis says
Aceh is free to enforce Shariah if it wants to, given its standing as a
province with special autonomy.
“The kind
of law that is upheld in Aceh is legally valid,” he says. “It can be justified
because Aceh law is a case of lex specialis , it can only be adopted by a
certain region. Whatever is going to be done, as long as it complies with
Shariah, we have to respect it, because lex specialis applies there.”
But others
are not so convinced Indonesia needs two sets of laws.
“Regional
laws should not go against national laws,” says Frans, the bar association
chief. “We still adhere to the concept of a united republic. We are not a
federal nation. If we were a federal nation, then it would be different.”
Komnas HAM
says the government and human rights groups need to hold talks with the
Acehnese people and community leaders about the future of the province.
“As for
Komnas HAM, we believe it will be better if the law does not leave any room for
discrimination,” Imdadun says. “We hope the people of Aceh can reflect this and
make a better choice. It is important to raise awareness, to hold dialogue with
policy makers in Aceh. This is important so they won’t drift further away from
Indonesia.”
He warns
that if the rising tide of support for the separatists, the now-defunct Free
Aceh Movement, or GAM, is left unchecked, its influence as a conservative group
will grow stronger.
“Today,
Shariah in Aceh still doesn’t cover crimes like theft. At presently it [mainly]
covers [crimes of intimacy]. The next step might very well be the
implementation of heavier punishments for crimes like theft,” Imdadun says. “If
that is the case, then thieves will have their hands amputated and adulterers
will be stoned [to death]. This has not been implemented yet, but worryingly I
have heard that a number of [legal] drafts have been proposed for that. The
voice of the international world is important in this.”
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