Women wearing jeans and other trousers in West Aceh will now face sharia police, as will clothes vendors selling slacks for women. West Aceh Regent Ramli M.S. issued the controversial regulation on Tuesday. Those found wearing tight trousers, such as jeans, will have them cut by sharia police, and will be forced to wear loose-fitting attire.
"We have issued the regulation to further enforce Islamic sharia granted by the central government," Ramli told The Jakarta Post by phone on Tuesday.
To anticipate the huge number of slacks to be cut by police during raids, the West Aceh regency administration has prepared around 7,000 long skirts, which will be provided for free to those caught wearing trousers. According to Ramli, the new regulation will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2010. The regulation also prohibits clothes vendors in the regency from selling slacks or jeans to women.
Your comments:
The government will spend a lot of money providing 7,000 long skirts. If one long skirt costs Rp 50,000, then 7,000 skirts would be Rp 350 million. What would happen if another region was interested in making different rules for clothing? Are you sure that it would be a clean project? Don't you think it is better to use the money for improving public facilities (such as schools)?
Hardi
Jakarta
Is this really more important than the 1,001 other problems facing Aceh? Get your priorities right or you will lose the respect of the people.
Bingun
Jakarta
Islam is the perfect religion for those who want to think. For example, if you are sick and are taken to hospital for treatment, any treatment will be painful. Our society is sick and the fact that the healing stage attracts protests is reasonable because of the pain, but afterward you will feel healthy.
Nahl
Jakarta
Thus is the blind imitation of the Dark Age Arabic culture that has nothing to do with a just Islam and a just God! Such Dark Age Arabic culture is currently being imposed with extreme aggression.
Katha Katharina Sri
Germany
Maybe we should try to see the a positive side of this dictated policy. Together with other recent initiatives in Aceh (e.g. death by stoning of female adulterers) this will highlight Aceh as a showcase of what the rest of Indonesia might expect in the near future - if the people are complacent and compliant and let the religious zealots control the political agenda.
At least for the moment, the rest of Indonesia still has democracy and significant (but eroding) freedoms (free speech, some religious freedom, a public justice system, media freedom, gender equality) - and, within reason, the freedom to wear the clothing of your choice.
Whether the rapid trend to Wahabi-style Arab culture overwhelms the whole of Indonesia - from Aceh to Papua - is still very much in the hands of the whole community.
Keep watching Aceh and decide if that is what you want. If you value your freedoms then, in a democracy, you have to actively defend and maintain those freedoms.
Remember that even democracies can be overwhelmed if the people are not resolute -Spain (Franco), Italy (Mussolini), Germany (Hitler), Iran (Theocrats), Myanmar (SLORC), Indonesia (Soeharto). Lest we forget. Democratic freedoms must be actively maintained.
Nairdah
Sydney
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