Reports that more regencies and cities around Indonesia are adopting shariah-style bylaws have caused grave concern among women activists, who worry that the trend will threaten not only their rights but also the nation's integrity.
A group of women's rights activists in Jakarta is drumming up support for a plan to file a request for a Supreme Court review of 26 shariah-inspired ordinances which have been adopted in various regencies and municipalities.
They argue the ordinances on sex and morality violate the 1945 Constitution, which guarantees equal rights for men and women. They say local administrations are taking advantage of the central government's lax supervision of local legislations in the name of autonomy.
Among those which have adopted the controversial ordinances are the predominantly Muslim municipality of Tangerang, and several regencies in South Sulawesi, South Sumatra, West Java, West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara. Aceh province was legally granted the right to adopt shariah in 2002 with the hope that it would help end the secessionist rebellion there.
The head of the Jakarta chapter of the Legal Aid Foundation for Women (LBH-APIK), Ratna Batara Munti, is calling for a nationwide movement to stop bylaws that discriminate against women.
In Tangerang, women are subject to arrest as suspected prostitutes if they venture out without a male companion at night.
Recently, the Coalition to Oppose Discriminatory Local Ordinances filed a request for judicial review of the Tangerang prostitution bylaw at the Supreme Court. They believe the bylaw violates the Constitution and the Criminal Code as well as the International Declaration of Human Rights.
"In Palembang city (in South Sumatra), being a homosexual is punishable by jail terms and hefty fines," she said.
The ordinances appear to clearly violate international conventions that the Indonesian government has ratified, such as the 2005 law on civil and political rights and the 1984 law on women.
The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights obliges signatories to repeal policies that are incompatible with the principles of human rights.
"It is the right of every person to determine his or her sexual orientation," Ratna says.
Ratna points out that many of the shariah bylaws discriminate against women, depriving them of their basic rights, such as the right to dress as they choose and act as they choose.
The General Secretary of the Indonesian Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy, Masruchah, illustrates how such bylaws discriminate against women.
"In some regencies in South Sulawesi province, the bylaws require women to wear Muslim clothes but they do not prescribe the same thing for men," said Masruchah, who wears a headscarf.
"The bylaws curtail women's rights to move and act. In the West Java regency of Cianjur, women are seen as 'good women' only if they wear Muslim clothes," she said.
According to activists, local administrations have adopted the shariah ordinances without properly consulting the people, let alone listening to objections from critics, particularly those of different religious faiths.
Masruchah says the end goal of the shariah ordinances spearheaded by fundamentalist groups is to turn Indonesia into a theocratic state.
"This is wrong. Islam teaches tolerance for people of other faiths, so they are violating this principle," she said. "I believe that many people do not feel comfortable with the bylaws, and therefore, we have to form an organized movement," she said. (05)
Taken from The Jakarta Post
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