‘Sharia’ bylaws bring only symbolic change

Following the introduction of regional autonomy in 1999, many regions have issued bylaws, instructions and circulars to live up to the Islamic law or sharia. The Jakarta Post’s Ridwan Max Sijabat looks at the motives behind the sharia phenomenon and its implications. Hotli Simanjuntak in Aceh,
Sofyardi Bachyul in Padang, Yuli Tri Suwarni in Bandung, Andi Hajramurni in Makassar and Nethy Darma Somba in Jayapura contributed to the report, the first in a series on the issue.

Children fluent in Islamic scriptures are the pride of many parents. Abdul Kadir, a civil servant in Gowa, South Sulawesi, is one such father, thanks to the local rule on mandatory teaching of reading the Koran, he says. “My children can read the Koran well, that’s a very good skill to have as Muslims,” he said.

Another area in the province, Padang village in Bulukumba regency, has been made into a “prototype” village applying sharia. Residents can be punished with canings for violations such as adultery, theft and violence; or be subject to the national criminal code, in which suspects are handed over to the police.

What is happening here? Nothing quite new — for the past decade the country has seen the growth of bylaws and local rules taking inspiration, explicitly or implicitly, from what is understood as Islamic law and practice, the sharia.

And what’s wrong with it? “They’re only binding to Muslims,” says Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi. “They help lower the crime rate and maintain the Islamic identity [of predominantly Muslim areas].”

Legal experts say national and local laws must be inclusive for all citizens; yet Gamawan’s response sums up the motivations of the hundreds of bylaws and regulations, which take inspiration from what is understood to be Islamic law and practice, the sharia.

Some groups of Muslims had high hopes when Soeharto stepped down after decades of repression of Islamic aspirations. Debates of accommodating Islam in the political and legal structure rose again after the end of the New Order.

The main demand of Islamic-based parties was to amend the introduction to the Constitution, so that it would recognize the right of Muslims to apply Islamic teachings among them. This demand, a recurrence of a similar debate in the early days of independence, was drowned out. But in its place, since the first direct local elections in 2005, many governors, regent and mayor hopefuls treated proposed sharia-based rules as a campaign commodity to win Muslims’ political support to win the polls.

Such regulations were seen to be a “solution” to the country’s political and economic crisis in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

The breakdown of law and order added to the attraction of regulations on morality and behavior.

Officially local authorities cannot rule on religion, except for Aceh, which has “special autonomy” as part of an internationally mediated agreement that ended decades of war with the government.

When a woman in the Tangerang township in Banten province filed for a judicial review against the ban on prostitution, which led to her arrest on charges of “suspicious behavior”, the lawsuit was dismissed as the bylaw was officially “public order”, the Supreme Court had said. Such “public orders” have sprouted in many regions outside Aceh.

Only two years after regional autonomy was launched in 1999, regencies and municipalities in West Sumatra, Banten, West Java and South Sulawesi issued such several sharia-based bylaws in the predominantly Muslim provinces.

Many followed, and by early 2010 more than 150 bylaws, regulations and circulars were found to be problematic and discriminative according to the national women’s rights body.

West Sumatra took its pioneering role with Solok regency issuing a 2001 bylaw requiring aspiring secondary level students and prospective couples to have skills in Koran reciting and writing.

The sharia bylaws were issued under then regent Gamawan Fauzi, now home minister, who wanted to uphold the sharia law in his program to fight corruption, reduce crime rates and create good governance.

However, such local rules have largely been limited to dress codes, curfews, gambling and drinking; corruption, for instance, is yet untouched by sharia-based rules.

In West Java and Banten, many regencies have already issued several regulations said to show their “Islamic” identity.

More pamphlets and banners containing religion-related jargon with moral messages, have been planted in strategic locations and in government offices to have them function as moral calls and reprimands for local Muslims.

Aceh with its special autonomy under the 1999 Aceh Administration Law has issued 54 of 59 bylaws or qanun planned to be issued until 2012. Several bylaws regulate an “Islamic” lifestyle and the Islamic court. The province has also set up the special police to enforce the sharia law. Violators of the Islamic bylaws go on trial and face penalties such as caning. The most controversial bylaw has been one on the Criminal Code, which includes the penalty of being stoned to death for people proven guilty of adultery.

This is the only sharia-based bylaw that the central government has opposed; the Home Ministry said it would file a request for a judicial review at the Supreme Court. Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf refused to sign the bylaw passed by the local legislative body.

In the face of criticism, local officials and lawmakers have defended the bylaws and local rules, just like Gamawan.

Patabai Pabokari, former Bulukumba regent and now head of the South Sulawesi provincial education office, said his endorsement of sharia-based bylaws both reduced crime rates and increased the regency’s income.

“With the 2003 bylaw on alms, the regency has the potential to collect Rp 98 billion (US$11 million) in alms from Muslims and it is enough to make the regency independent economically,” he said. Crime rates have decreased with the disappearance of the illegal sale of liquor, he added. Many say such bylaws have brought only symbolic change.

Bandung resident Irfan Junaidi pointed to the banning of pop star Ariel by the Bandung mayor to perform in the city, in the wake of the singer’s alleged involvement in the sex tape featuring himself and two female celebrities. The ban “indicates that the sharia is effective only for laymen and low-income people, while many local officials allegedly involved in graft ... are left untouched,” said Irfan, who runs a website on Islamic teachings.

He said Cianjur, Tasikmalaya, Majalengka and Bogor in West Java all have difficulties in enforcing the sharia-based bylaws because of a lack of role models among their elite.

The Wahid Institute in its survey on the sharia-inspired bylaws said the local rules violated the law on regional administration, by issuing legislation that contradicted higher laws and the Constitution.

The Institute’s director Ahmad Suaedy added the local rules had undermined the country’s efforts to pluralism and religious harmony, and had violated civilian rights.

According to its study in West Sumatra, West Java, Banten, Central and East Java and South Sulawesi, the sharia-based local rules also restrict activities of women in a male-dominated society. The researchers also said such bylaws were no longer popular as more people were seeking candidates who could alleviate poverty and generate more jobs.

The study also found that the sharia-based rules could undermine national unity as predominantly Christian and Catholic regencies such as Papua and East Nusa Tenggara had issued bible-inspired bylaws to uphold their Christian identity.