Indonesian Sharia police separate Aceh lesbian couple

BBC News, ByAlice Budisatrijo, Jakarta, 25 August 2011

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• Indonesia Islamic laws 'abusive'
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Islamicpolice in the Indonesian province of Aceh have forced two women to have theirmarriage annulled and sign an agreement to separate.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to
apply Sharia law

The womenhad been legally married for a few months after one of them passed as a man infront of an Islamic cleric who presided over their wedding.

Butsuspicious neighbours confronted the couple and reported them to police.

The twowomen are now back with their families, forcibly separated and undersurveillance by the Islamic police.

The localSharia police chief told them Islam said they must be beheaded and burned forwhat they had done.

But Aceh,the only province in Indonesia that is allowed to implement Sharia law, has yetto adopt any provisions dealing with gay and lesbian people.

Theprovincial parliament passed Islamic laws authorising the stoning to death ofadulterers and the caning of homosexuals in 2009, but the governor has refusedto sign it.

Homosexualityis frowned upon but legal in Indonesia.

Activistshave blamed Aceh's Sharia laws for encouraging vigilantism and intolerance, andsay they violate the Indonesian constitution.

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”


"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  New !

Indonesian Rights Group Says Caning Unconstitutional

Jakarta Globe, May 27, 2011

A Sharia law official caning a man convicted of unlawful contact between
unmarried man and woman in Jantho, Aceh province, in April 8. Aceh adopted
a form of Shariah law in 2001 as part of the regional autonomy offered to
help quell separatist sentiment. Amnesty International recently argued that caning
violates the UN Convention against Torture, which Indonesia ratified in 1998, and
urged Indonesia to bring Aceh’s bylaws in line with international and national human
rights laws and standards. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)

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• 14 People Caned in East Aceh For Playing Games of Chance

An Indonesian human rights group on Friday condemned the use of caning in staunchly Islamic Aceh province, saying the punishment violated the country's constitution.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) urged the government to repeal a bylaw used by the partially autonomous province to carry out the punishment under Muslim sharia law.

Dozens of men have been publicly caned there for gambling this month.

Kontras said that caning should be barred by clauses in the country's constitution which grant citizens freedom from torture and from acts that detract from human dignity.

"The Indonesian government has to review the use of caning as punishment," deputy coordinator Indria Fernida said in a statement.

"A slow response by the government will indicate that they neglect this matter and adhere to a kind of punishment that violates the constitution and human rights principles," she said.

On Thursday, 19 people were being lashed in public after being caught gambling. Twenty--one people were also lashed earlier this month for gambling, while the punishment is also used for offenses including adultery.

Sixteen people were reportedly caned in Aceh last year, according to rights group Amnesty International, which said last week that the punishment violated the UN Convention against Torture.

"It seems that Aceh's authorities are increasingly resorting to public caning in violation of international law," Amnesty's Asia--Pacific director Sam Zarifi said.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, adopted partial sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy package aimed at quelling separatist sentiment.

Caning carried out there is mainly aimed at causing shame rather than injury.

AFP

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Aceh leaders pan call to end caning

Indonesian government must repeal caning bylaws in Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Sun, 05/22/2011

The Indonesian government must end the use of caning as a form of punishment and repeal the laws that allow it in Aceh province, Amnesty International said Sunday after at least 21 people were publicly caned since 12 May.

In Langsa city, 14 men were caned outside the Darul Falah mosque on 19 May, following the caning of seven men a week earlier.

All 21 were found to have violated an Aceh bylaw (qanun) prohibiting gambling and were given six lashes each as hundreds of people looked on.

“It seems that Aceh’s authorities are increasingly resorting to public caning in violation of international law,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director.

“Victims of caning experience pain, fear and humiliation, and caning can cause long-term or permanent injuries. The Indonesian government must act to stop these punishments, which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and often amount to torture.”

According to media reports, at least 16 men and women were also caned in Aceh in 2010.

In addition to the Aceh bylaws providing for caning, the Aceh Criminal Code (Qanun Hukum Jinayat) passed by the Aceh parliament in 2009 provides for stoning to death for adultery and caning of up to 100 lashes for homosexuality.

This code has not yet been implemented, in part because of intense criticism at local, national, and international levels.

Amnesty International called on the Indonesian central government to review all such bylaws and local regulations to ensure that they conform with international and Indonesian human rights law and standards.

“Indonesia’s decentralization process and regional autonomy were supposed to be about empowering local populations, and should not come at the expense of their human rights,” said Sam Zarifi.

Aceh’s provincial legislature passed a series of bylaws governing the implementation of Shari’a law after the enactment of the province’s Special Autonomy Law in 2001. Caning was introduced as a punishment carried out by Islamic courts for offences also including adultery, consumption of alcohol, unmarried adult couples who are alone in isolation (khalwat) and for any Muslim found eating, drinking or selling food during sunlight hours in the fasting month of Ramadan.

Caning punishments violate the UN Convention against Torture, which Indonesia ratified in 1998. The Committee against Torture has also raised concerns that people detained under Aceh’s bylaws are not afforded their basic legal rights, including the right to legal counsel, and are apparently presumed to be guilty.

A Sharia law official whips a man convicted of unlawful contact between
unmarried man and woman with a rattan stick during a public caning in Jantho,
Aceh province, Indonesia, Friday, April 8, 2011. A version of Islamic law was
introduced in the province in 2001 as part of negotiations to end the 29-year war
between separatist rebels and the military. The law bans gambling, drinking
alcohol and makes it compulsory for women to wear headscarves. (AP Photo/Heri Juanda)

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UNESCO to name Saman Dance world cultural heritage

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/18/2011

UNESCO is set to officially list the Saman Dance from Aceh as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November.

“The Saman Dance will be announced as intangible world cultural heritage by UNESCO on November 19, 2011,” I Gde Pitana, Indonesian Culture and Tourism Ministry cultural and tourism resources agency head, said Monday in Jakarta.

He said UNESCO's recognition of Saman added to numerous Indonesian cultural products already recognized by UNESCO as among world cultural heritage such as wayang (shadow puppets), keris (traditional dagger), batik textiles and angklung (a set of Sundanese musical instruments).

Pitana said the announcement would be made at a ceremony in Bali, Antara reported.

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Indonesian Couples Caned over Extramarital Affairs

Jakarta Globe, April 08, 2011

An Indonesian Shariah official whipping Irdayanti Mukhtar, center, as
punishment for having an extramarital affair in Jantho, Aceh Besar,
on Friday. Two couples were caned in Indonesia's staunchly Muslim
Aceh province. (AFP Photo)

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Two couples were caned in Indonesia’s staunchly Muslim Aceh province on Friday after being caught having extramarital affairs, a prosecutor said.

Irdayanti Mukhtar being carried away after
she was caned as punishment for having an
extramarital affair in Jantho, Aceh Besar, on
Friday.Two couples were caned in Indonesia's
staunchly Muslim Aceh province. (AFP Photo)

About two hundred people gathered after Friday prayers to watch the four people receive their allotted lashes at a mosque in the city of Jantho, southeast of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

Sudirman, 43, and Irdayanti, 34, received nine lashes each.

“The reason for the harsh punishment is that both of them are already married to other people,” prosecutor Bendry Almy said.

The other couple punished were Rudi Setia Yudda, 40, who received seven lashes, and 18-year old Nuramalia, who received four.

Irdayanti, who is married to another man, cried as the punishment was carried out and afterwards fainted. She was treated at a local hospital.

An Indonesian Shariah official whipping
a man as punishment for having an
extramarital affair in Jantho, Aceh Besar,
on Friday. Two couples were caned in
Indonesia's staunchly Muslim Aceh
province. (AP Photo)

The crowd shouted at Sudirman and Yudda, saying their adulterous behavior had caused them to be flogged and asking that they be meted out extra lashes.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is one of several areas in Muslim-majority Indonesia where Islamic Shariah law has been adopted. Caning as carried out there is mainly aimed at causing shame rather than injury.

In December, two people were caned in Aceh after being caught having an extramarital kiss.

Agence France-Presse

New Museum on Human Rights Offering Lessons From Aceh’s Painful Past

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan | March 26, 2011

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Banda Aceh. Decades of armed conflict in Aceh may be officially over, but scars remain from that tumultuous time that, as people like Reza Idri insist, should never be forgotten.

Reza, the director of the newly inaugurated Museum of Aceh Human Rights, believes the past holds valuable lessons no matter how painful they are.

“There is no intention at all for us to reopen old wounds here,” he said at the museum’s launch on Wednesday. “We only want the past to be remembered and serve as lessons for the future.”

He and a group of artists and activists formed the museum to record the many rights violations that took place during Aceh’s pro-independence movement from the 1970s to the late 1990s. More than 15,000 people were killed.

The Indonesian military launched a brutal crackdown on the separatists, until the state of emergency in the province was lifted briefly between early 2000 and 2003.

Though fighting flared up again after that, a devastating tsunami in 2004 refocused the country’s efforts toward rehabilitation and eventually led to a peace agreement.

The museum, temporarily lodged in a simple house in Ulee Kareng, Banda Aceh, has records of those grim events.

On its opening night on Wednesday, dozens of activists watched a documentary on school burnings that were rampant in 2000.

The burnings peaked in 2003 when the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) again declared Aceh a military emergency zone and moved to quash the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The museum also displays photographs of victims who disappeared along with thousands of others during the almost 30-year conflict.

It also chronicles tragedies such as the massacre of Tengku Bantaqiah and 56 of his students on July 23, 1999, in West Aceh. He had been accused of hiding firearms for rebels.

The museum documents the military raid of a National Committee of Indonesian Youth (KNPI) building on Jan. 9 that same year in Lhokseumawe in northern Aceh, that left five dead and dozens injured.

Though its subject is bloody, the museum has refused to show graphic photos or videos of the violence, citing “ethical reasons.”

“We do have those photos. But if they are displayed, it might spark violent reactions and reopen old wounds,” Reza said.

While the new museum is billeted in temporary quarters, the director said he hoped the Aceh administration would realize the museum’s value and assign them a permanent building, such as the rarely used Tsunami Museum.

“This is actually the responsibility of the government, but we have taken the first initiative,” Reza said.

“Once there is state-built museum, we will grant every resource we have to it, which of course would be housed in a more appropriate setting,” the director said.

Reza said their museum not only documented abuses but could serve as a center for conflict studies.

Tsunami boat house becomes god`s warning in Aceh`s tourism

Antara News, Sunday, December 26, 2010

A fishing boat moved by the tsunami remains in place, a makeshift
memorial to the victims. (Tarmizy Harva / Reuters)

Banda Aceh, Aceh (ANTARA News) - The Boat House, an Aceh tsunami monument located in Lampulo Village, Banda Aceh, had become a God`s Warning site for Visit Banda Aceh 2011.

The monument which sits on a house serves proof of the devastating tsunami which struck Aceh on December 26, 2004.

"The tsunami site serves as God`s Warning in tourism as by looking at it people will become aware of God`s unlimited power," Banda Aceh Deputy Mayor Illiza Saaduddin Jamal said here during inaugural ceremony of the tourism icon and at the same time commemorating the tsunami disaster here on Sunday.

At the monument, there is an inscription in three different languages, Indonesian, Acehnese, and English, which described how the boat saved 59 peoples during the tsunami.

There is also a banner which shows 59 tsunami survivors who climbed on the boat after the tsunami hit the Aceh coast.

The owner of the house, Abasiah ,said he survived after climbing on the boat when it floating toward him.

"I climbed on the boat in which 59 people were already in it," he said.

"When the boat stopped drifting, I noticed that it was perched on top of my house," he said.

The Lampulo Village chief Alta Zaini said residents of Lampulo would ready to make a success of the tourist program by serving and guiding visiting tourists.

Alta also asked every member of the tsunami victim to learn a lesson from the disaster, and free themselves from their grief.

The God`s warning tourism object is also expected to become a place for contemplation and economic improvement of the the local residents.

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Military Officers in Aceh Break Record for Massive Traditional Dance

Military Officers in Aceh Break Record for Massive Traditional Dance

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan | December 22, 2010

Military officers from Aceh's Military Regional Command and their wives performing
the traditional Saman dance at Blang Padang field in Banda Aceh on Wednesday.
(JG Photo/Nurdin Hasan)

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Banda Aceh. More than 2,500 Indonesian military officers from Aceh's Military Regional Command, or Kodam Iskandar Muda, broke the record for massive Saman dancing, according to the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI).

The record-breaking attempt was conducted at Blang Padang field in Banda Aceh on Wednesday.

Saman is a traditional dance from Aceh's Gayo Lues district to celebrate cultural ceremonies. The dance was created by a prominent Islamic scholar in Gayo named Syekh Saman.

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Indonesia's Aceh makes 'remarkable' tsunami recovery

BBC News, 22 December 2010

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Indonesia's Aceh province has made a "remarkable" recovery after the devastating 2004 tsunami but many serious challenges remain.

Aceh lags behind the rest of Indonesia in terms of health,
poverty and development, says the UNDP

A UN Development Programme report said rebuilding had been impressive in Aceh.

But it added that more needed to be done to lessen the impact of natural disasters and to reduce poverty.

In December 2004, a quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries.

Aceh sits on the volatile "ring of fire", a belt of tectonic activity that triggers earthquakes and volcanoes.

'Remarkable progress'

The UNDP report, which was requested by the Aceh administration, said the region's recovery was "beyond anything imaginable six years ago".

"The people of Aceh have achieved remarkable progress in the physical rebuilding of their communities, yet similar advances in key human development indicators remain elusive," the report said.

In terms of poverty, life expectancy and other quality of life measurements, Aceh lags behind the rest of Indonesia.

"Long years of military and political struggle, coupled with changing economic conditions and continuing natural disasters, have left Aceh today as one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia," the report said.

A year after the tsunami, Aceh's separatists signed a peace deal with Jakarta and now dominate local government. The report said Aceh had made "impressive gains in participation in the political arena".

However, it found that women were "still largely under-represented in decision-making at the community level" and that domestic violence was a "major concern".

This first Aceh Human Development Report is based on data from 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.

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Indonesia's Islamic laws are 'abusive', report says

BBC News, 1 December 2010

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Two Islamic laws applied in the Indonesian province of Aceh violate peoples' rights and are implemented abusively, a new report has concluded.

Women, especially poor women, bear the brunt of
shariah law in Aceh, says Human Rights Watch

The New York-based Human Rights Watch group (HRW) says two of five local laws based on the Shariah legal code discriminate against women.

The laws against "seclusion" and dress codes are also not applied against rich or well-connected people, it says.

Islamic law applies only in Aceh in the secular state of Indonesia.

The new HRW report, "Policing Morality: Abuses in the Application of Sharia in Aceh, Indonesia," notes that the rights group takes no position on Shariah law as a whole - a system its supporters say provides a comprehensive guide to behaviour.

However, the "seclusion" law which makes association by unmarried individuals of the opposite sex a criminal offence in some circumstances, and laws on dress requirements, are discriminatory.

"These two laws deny people's right to make their own decisions about who they meet and what they wear," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Abuse

"The laws, and their selective enforcement, are an invitation to abuse," she said.

The word "seclusion" has been used to bar people simply meeting and talking in a quiet place.

Abuses include aggressive interrogations and attempts to force people to marry.

At least one case of rape of a woman in detention by the shariah police officers has occurred.

HRW says shariah police officers have told their investigators that they sometimes force women and girls to submit to virginity exams as part of the investigation.

The laws also allow for members of the public to identify, report and punish alleged misbehaviour which has also led to further violence and abuses which usually go unpunished, HRW says, citing several first-person accounts.

Other Islamic laws applied in Aceh relate to charitable giving, gambling, Islamic ritual and proper Muslim behaviour.

They were applied as part of the central government's attempts to appease the Islamic lobby in Aceh, where separatists have for years criticised unfairness in the distribution of wealth from Aceh's considerable oil and gas resources.

Surveys in the province have regularly highlighted local residents' unhappiness with the laws.

There has been no central or local government response to the HRW report.

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National camp

The Jakarta Post, Antara, Pidie, Aceh | Tue, 11/30/2010

National camp: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (second right) accompanied by First Lady Ani Bambang Yudhoyono (right), together with Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf (left) talk with scout participants in the opening of Wirakarya national camp at Seulawah Scout Camp in Pidie, Aceh on Tuesday. The camp will run from Nov. 29 until Dec. 6 with 8,600 participants. (Antara/Ampelsa)

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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Central Aceh once inhabited by prehistoric humans, archeologist

Antara News, Sunday, September 26, 2010 15:48 WIB

Takengon, Aceh Province (ANTARA News) - Two senior archeologists from Medan said Kampung Mendale area, Central Aceh district, had once inhabited by prehistoric humans.

The two archeologists Ketut Wiradnyana and Lucas Partanda Koestoro made the statement after they found some prehistoric remains such as a niche (Rock Shelter/Abris Shous Roches), a square stone axe, pottery pieces and a human skeleton in a cave near Danau Laut Tawar lake in Kampung Mendale.

"One of our latest discovery is a human skeleton which we found in Ujung Karang Kebayakan area, another excavation site near Kampung Mendale area," Ketut said here on Sunday.

However he could not yet confirm the skeleton`s exact age since excavation was still ongoing.

"In order to determine the age of these objects more accurately, they will go through a carbon dating process at the National Atomic Energy Agency (BATAN)," Ketut said.

Last May, local residents of Jayapura district, Papua province, found some prehistoric relics at two different locations.

The leader of an Archeological Institute research team, Hari Suroto, said locals who were digging in the ground at Kalkote hamlet in East Sentani district on Tuesday (April 27) came across pottery pieces now believed to date back to 1500 BC (before Christ) or the Neolithic era.

The archeological team had also established that the same type of pottery was found in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, in 1996. In fact, `Lapita` pottery was previously discovered in many places in the Pacific region and the Bismark islands, he said.

At Kwadare village in Waibu district, locals had also found a bronze axe which the archeological team believed was made in 300 BC and originally came from Dong Son, North Vietnam.

Hari said the skill of bronze axe making was brought to the northern coastal regions of Papua by people of the Austronesian race.

But the bronze axe found at Kwadare village was not handed over to the Archeological Institute but kept by the Kwadeware community`s chieftain.

Outrage, Ridicule Leveled at West Aceh Politician After Rape Comment

Jakarta Globe, Ulma Haryanto | August 19, 2010

Scorn has been poured over comments from West Aceh district head Ramli Mansur that woman who fail to wear Islamic clothing are “asking to be raped.”(JG Photo/ Dewi Kurniawati)

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• Dressing to Impress Aceh's Shariah Police Dec 20, 2009

Jakarta. The Indonesian Council of Ulema have rejected comments from West Aceh district head Ramli Mansur that woman who fail to wear Islamic clothing are “asking to be raped.”

Amidhan, chairman of the council, also known as MUI, said there was “no such thing” in Islam.

“A scantily-clad women might trigger certain thoughts in a young man’s head but it doesn’t mean that she’s asking to get raped.”

Ninik Rahayu, deputy chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, criticized the West Aceh bylaw that prohibits women from wearing tight clothing, including pants.

“Even if a woman wears a ragged sack as clothing, men with perverted thoughts will still want to rape her,” she said.

Ninik said the bylaw was an attempt to discriminate against women.

“Why does the state, or in this case regional government, have to regulate how a woman has to dress herself?” she asked.

The Jakarta Globe Facebook and Twitter communities, meanwhile, reacted with outrage and open hostility to Ramli’s comments.

“What a douchebag, wrote Pratomo Hartono on the Globe’s Facebook fan site. “Whoever said that should go kill himself with a fork.

Nino Candra, also on Facebook, described Ramli’s answers to a sit-down interview with Globe journalist Dewi Kurniawati as “idiotic.”

“I do pity Mr. Mansur for the narrow-mindedness.”

“A man who says such things has perverted fantasies in his mind,” noted Yoshua Budin on the social networking site.

Jodi Baskoro said she believed Ramli regarded women has little more than "chunks of meat without feeling,” adding that she dared the politician for the sake of women in the world to study different perspectives and "learn to respect."

Selena Tiedoll, also on Facebook wrote: “Yes, I agree women should dress properly, but asking to be raped? Women get raped because it’s their fault? You must tell men to control their lust, too! Even if all women wear burqa, but the man is very horny, rape will still occur anyway....”

The Globe’s Twitter community was also incredulous, with one member simply stating that Ramli’s comments were “crazy.”

Read the full interview HERE or sign up to the Jakarta Globe’s Facebook or Twitter feeds to participate in the debate.

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