Having lived in countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, I support sharia law if it is imposed without discrimination.

In Saudi Arabia, a princess was executed together with her lover in the early *70s. In this country there is no discrimination as far as sharia law is concerned.

Will Indonesia do the same? The hand of a thief is chopped off if caught in the act of stealing. Drunks get 80 lashes or are liable to pay a high fine. Adulterers, rapists, murderers and corruptors are beheaded.

Hooray if this law is implemented all over Indonesia. More than half of the AGO's officials and police force will face beheading and officials at provincial level will face the same.

Indonesia will face a cleanup at central and provincial levels at all government institutions. Would this not be great? In Saudi Arabia, women have the right to study and I have visited the King Saud University (for men), where women were allowed to follow lectures in the dentistry faculty.

There are banks managed and run by women, especially for women in Riyadh. Women do have rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and soon the government will pass a law allowing women to work in government institutions - maybe they have done so already.

So, why is Aceh being so discriminative against women? Why can't women wear pants? Certainly, this is more decent than a mini-skirt? The provincial government in Aceh should focus on rebuilding, educating and strengthening its people regardless of gender.

They are lagging behind the rest of Indonesia and should catch up. Besides that, we already have constitutional law as well as common law (hukum adat). Sharia law is not necessary; we are a multicultural and multiethnic nation.

Mahfud MD, chairman of the Constitutional Court, stated upon his election that the Constitutional Court would remain independent from outside influences. He also lashed out at regional administrations for enacting sharia-inspired bylaws.

The court has played an important role in transforming the law in Indonesia by helping in the process of democratic transformation. Please Mahfud, what are you going to do about plots to incriminate the two suspended KPK deputy leaders Bibit and Chandra? And now Antasari Azhar is facing the same. Are you going to try to stop the destruction of the KPK? Did not you state that the most important role of the Constitutional Court is to ensure that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land?

Did you not state that the arrest by the police of the two suspended KPK leaders will impact and harm the country's democratic development? So what are you going to do about all this? The public awaits your final recourse.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java

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