Letter: This bylaw should be struck down

I would like to respond to various comments in connection with the approval of a bylaw which rules stoning punishment. We have to note that the people who passed this law were leaving office a few weeks after it was passed to be replaced by their opponents. I think this says something about the people of Aceh and what they want and don't want.

I don't know the figures for the local elections, but here in Indonesia voter turnout is generally very low. In the last presidential election I believe only about 60 percent of the country actually voted (I haven't checked that figure, but it's in the ballpark). So it's quite possible that none of the leaders are exactly "representative".

Since they were leaving power it seems to me that, repulsive as it is, this is at least politically a smart move for them. They can't lose much in the way of popularity since they're already out of power.

If the law stays when the new administration comes in then they are happy. If the law is removed by the new administration (or by SBY, who is of the same party as the new administration) then they can spend the next few years saying that the new administration is against Allah's will, anti-Muslim, and so on, and every time anything hits the news that is related to adultery (i.e. a politician having an affair) they can cry that they were right.

Even bad publicity can be good publicity, and they won't lose any of their core supporters, they can only gain new ones. It becomes a campaign issue, raising votes and scoring points for them, and in the run up to the next election it is automatically one of the major points to be discussed as a serious issue, rather than being what it actually should be, a fringe view held by only a few.

This law should be struck down, and the people who made it should be condemned to obscurity and impotency, since that is the worst fate they can imagine.

Anom
Jakarta