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strong>Dec. 14, Online

Police in Indonesia’s most conservative Muslim province of Aceh have a new Public Enemy No. 1:
punk rockers.

Police official Iskandar Hasan said on Wednesday that 65 youths were rounded up during a weekend concert and brought to a detention center where their spiky Mohawks — deemed insulting to Islamic traditions — were buzzed off.

They were stripped of body piercings, dog-collar necklaces and chains, then thrown in pools of water for “spiritual” cleansing. Their “disgusting” clothes were replaced and each was handed a toothbrush and told: “Use it!”

Aceh, on Indonesia’s westernmost tip, banned alcohol and gambling after gaining semi-autonomy from the secular central government five years ago. It’s also compulsory for women to wear headscarves.

Your comments:

There is no freedom of choice, expression or life for the kids. If the sharia police can cut the kids’ hair as punishment, the kids should be able to cut the hands off the corrupt. That’s sharia law for thieves.
Beany
The US

Well, the Aceh authorities are not hard-line enough. Their police officers who use drugs should get the death penalty according to sharia. Drug use, after all, warrants the death sentence.

So the police and authorities in Aceh are soft. Look at how many hectares of marijuana fields in Aceh have been found and burned. Still, there are many drug-addicted people, including the police.
Widya Utama

It looks like Indonesia is well on its way to being the next Afghanistan.
Joe Shih

I’m from the Philippines. I watched this story just now in our local morning news. It’s so sad. These kids were only expressing themselves.

Lady Gaga is so lucky that she was not born in Aceh.
Ned

This is totally outrageous. How barbaric. This is definitely taking the nation back to the Stone Age. You just don’t do that kind of thing to anyone. The authorities should be ashamed of themselves. What a weak President.
Joe

This shocking news has traveled all over the world. I have seen it on German, Dutch and English-language websites. Is Indonesia going back to the Middle Ages?
Mat

I don’t believe anyone has any authority to tell an individual what sort of haircut they must have, not even the government.

The last time people had their heads forcibly shaved and were instructed to wear particular clothing was by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Is this a sign of things to come in the rest of Indonesia if the push for sharia goes unchallenged?

I would protest even more strongly if any of my kids went to a concert and were forcibly shaved by the religious police.

I predict that Aceh will increasingly become an embarrassment for the more moderate majority population of Indonesia.

Let’s not fool ourselves: Genuine democracy in Aceh is dead; it is now a theocracy. Indeed, Aceh is already so “un-Indonesian” that I am embarrassed to admit to any foreigner that it is a part of Indonesia.
Nairdah

The Taliban are here, but still most Indonesians prefer to sleep.
Edi Rey

Poor Indonesia. Where are you going? It is such a difference from your promotional videos on television.
Fred Johnson

I could not believe that this occurred in Indonesia. Who will stop these radicals?

If these radicals want to follow sharia, please go to an Islamic state. They are eagerly waiting for you.
Muhammad

Mr. President, still proud of your government?

You think you do a good job? And Indonesians, why are you so quiet? The Taliban are here!
Dewi