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View Point: Sharia creeping into the police force?
Recently, a new trend has arisen in many provinces: Policewomen donning Islamic headscarves while on duty
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Recently, a new trend has arisen in many provinces: Policewomen donning Islamic headscarves while on duty.
It followed new National Police chief Gen. Sutarman's announcement that Muslim police officers would be permitted to wear the Islamic garb as pious groups had long demanded, but had previously fallen on his predecessors' deaf ears.
Politicians and interest groups backing his candidacy showered Sutarman with praise, something he badly needed to lift his posture that suffered from his questionable performance while he served his previous stints as the National Police chief detective and regional police commander.
But in the meantime, the permission has been put on hold and eager female officers have been ordered to take off their hijabs until further notice because the Police leadership has yet to draft the regulation.
Sutarman, known as a confidante of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who had picked him as the sole chieftain candidate and later endorsed by the House of Representatives, was not very happy with how his policy had played out.
'I ordered the suspension after seeing that some policewomen were wearing red hijabs, white hijabs, while others wore hijabs with different color combinations. It is not beautiful at all,' he said.
The surprise suspension has not only disappointed his supporters but also revealed signs of discord within the National Police leadership. It was Sutarman's deputy and his senior in the Police Academy, Comr. Gen. Oegroseno, who insisted on suspending the policy for technical and budgetary reasons.
Oegroseno told the media, 'It wouldn't be hard for them [female officers insisting on wearing hijabs] to move to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. It would be good for them.' Aceh is the province where sharia is officially enforced.
Interestingly, President Yudhoyono is yet to publicly state his stand on the issue. It is not known if the President condones Sutarman's plan.
Sutarman's policy is adding a twist to how religion should have a place in Indonesian politics. Indonesia is basically a 'secular' state but is struggling to defend this principle due to the rising Islamic radicalism and Islamic politics.
Although aggravating worries about 'creeping sharia' in the political system, the policy will most likely get through with little or no open resistance, up to this point at least, due to the high degree of sensitivity of the issue. The debates are certainly lively in online forums.
While Sutarman's decision has triggered a wave of euphoria among proponents, it has received muted response from minority religious groups, especially the Christian, Hindus and Buddhist, who together make up some 20 percent of the population of 240 million.
Islamic groups have even gone as far as demanding that the Indonesian Military (TNI) leadership follow in Sutarman's footsteps, allowing female soldiers to don the Islamic attire for the sake of respecting their religious rights.
For those who still count on Pancasila as the nation's ideology and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) as the national motto, Sutarman's policy is just the latest reason to worry about the future of Indonesia as a multicultural nation.
Over the past decade, Indonesia has been witnessing local governments ' with the quiet consent from the central government ' adopting sharia-inspired morality bylaws, requiring women to wear hijabs, banning alcohol and some areas even making it mandatory for civil servants to attend mass prayers in their office's mosque.
The central government has issued a controversial joint ministerial decree, which requires people wanting to build their places of worship to obtain the support of citizens from other religions as a prerequisite to apply for the official building permit. The decree has become a major source of religious conflicts but the government is adamant on revoking it.
Regional morality bylaws have been introduced by politicians to buy popular votes or to stay in office.
Obviously, Sutarman is a member of the top brass who has been tempted to use this easy but potentially dangerous tactic after his less-than impressive past performances came under public scrutiny ahead of his appointment.
The postponed implementation of his hijab policy shows he caved in to the pressure of interest groups rather than materializing the police forces' genuine policy. His lack of preparation has resulted in embarrassment when Oegroseno said that the plan had to be delayed because the supporting regulation had yet to be drafted, while the funds had not been made available and there was no decision yet on the standardization of the new uniforms.
All the financial, legal and technical constraints may be solved easily thanks to the strong support from lawmakers, but the ideological and psychological ramifications of the hijabization policy in the police force should not be underestimated.
While 'democracy' and 'human rights' as the catalyst sound like good reasons, the new uniform policy is raising some philosophical questions about the underlying purpose of uniforms in such a vital state institution as the Police.
Once the policy is enforced, we will see some policewomen donning headscarves and others not in routine ceremonies. Therefore, it is only logical that the policy made by the management is interpreted as a rule for all Muslim female cops. Many may wear it because of peer pressure.
Female officers will be 'marked' for their religious beliefs and this can unnecessarily aggravate the 'us and them' feeling among female officers, which may exacerbate the feeling of religious segregation and even discrimination among police officers.
If religion is the sole reason to introduce the policy, will the police leadership do the same if the Christian policewomen demanded they place crosses on their hats while on duty? Or Buddhist policewomen insist on having yellow uniforms? Or if pious Muslim male officers insist they are allowed to grow goatees and don turbans?
Oh God, I love this country more and more.
The writer is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post.
