Ministry reviewing 700 bylaws, sharia-based local regulations

Andreas D. Arditya ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/17/2008 10:10 AM  |  National

The government is reviewing 37 sharia-based local regulations in force in several regions across the country.

The 37 bylaws are among a total of 700 bylaws currently under review.

The bylaws are discriminatory and violate higher existing laws, Janiruddin, head of law examination and evaluation at the Home Ministry, said Tuesday.

"We have told the respective regions to consider deliberating the bylaws again or to redraft the bylaws," he said.

Among the sharia-based bylaws are those that require Koran literacy for students and brides and a Muslim dress code for women, as well as biased prostitution rules.

"The bylaws on prostitution, for example, are clearly discriminatory because they regulate only the women but not the men. There's a lack of gender equality there," he said, in reference to a public order ordinance in Tangerang.

The ordinance has been widely criticized for its unclear definitions of prostitutes and "immoral behavior".

Critics have said many of the bylaws were drafted by unqualified people without transparency or public participation.

According to Janiruddin, the ministry faces legal obstacles in revoking sharia-based bylaws.

"The Home Ministry only has authority over bylaws on taxes, levies, spatial regulation and regional budgets," he said.

He also said most of the bylaws had been reported to the ministry long after they were passed, but the Supreme Court would only consider revoking bylaws that were reported as violations less than 180 days after their deliberation.

"What makes it worse is that it is hard to monitor 500 regions across the country," he added.

Regional autonomy has led to an increase in the number of bylaws passed over the past decade.

However, Janiruddin said, many of the bylaws were made solely for the regions to gain more revenue and violated the legal hierarchy.

"Out of 8,000 bylaws spread across the country's 500 regions, 3,000 are problematic potential bylaws and they regulate redundant taxes that have deterred investment in the regions," he said.

The ministry has revoked 973 problematic potential bylaws to date and plans to annul 250 more.

Bomer Pasaribu, a lawmaker and head of the regional and suburban planning experts association, said most of the questionable bylaws were made without a strong enough foundation.

"The regions should have conducted academic studies before even drafting the bylaws. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a single bylaw preceded by such a study," he said.

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