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strong>March 26, p5

A young woman collapsed while being publicly caned in Banda Aceh on Thursday for violating sharia. Sakdiah, 22, who was sentenced to receiving 20 lashes with a cane for going on dates with her boyfriend, Budiman, was carried away on a stretcher by a medical team for treatment, Antara news agency reported on Thursday.

While being watched by hundreds of residents, Sakdiah wept and walked unsteadily when she was escorted onto the stage at the At Taqwa Mosque, Lhong Raya village, Banda Raya district. She fainted before getting the full 20 lashes. Budiman was sentenced too and received the same punishment.

Your comments:

There is no room for this in humanity. This is terrorism, Aceh-style.

Brucelee4444

First, seeing a boyfriend is wrong because somebody or something says it'€™s wrong.

Second, before marriage she should not know any man other than her father, uncle(s) and brother(s), so that on her wedding night she will be all nice and fresh to be ravished by an unknown man designated her lawful husband, who may however have three other lawful wives.

Third, as '€œviolence begets violence'€, it is hoped that this punishment will impress upon her to raise children who ideally can be conditioned to become suicide bombers (instant paradise guaranteed), or at the very least who have no qualms at burning down other religions'€™ houses of worship.

Rest assured, she herself will not go unrewarded: Depending on her degree of obedience and compliance, she will after this temporal life go to one of the seven grades of paradise to live in eternal bliss '€” far removed from the damnation of hell'€™s fire. Amen.

Wandering Star

Who cares? Let them whip each other back into the dark ages if that'€™s what pushes their buttons. Anyway, it should be clear by now that the only way to deal with these kinds of people is to not deal with them: No trade, no tourism, no aid, no pity and most of all no immigration from the miserable crumbling states they cannot help but create. Give them the pure isolation they crave. This is the only solution to the problem of our modern clash of values.

Devanagari

These savages cannot be categorized as humans, and this country cannot be categorized as governed and the Indonesian population as a whole cannot be categorized as people by allowing this to happen.

Yaudah

I wish Aceh was a boat, then we could give 24 hours'€™ notice for the good Acehnese people who wanted to cross into North Sumatra and become Indonesian again, then cut the whole thing loose, with their primitive barbarism, corruption and huge ganja business, and let them drift toward Saudi Arabia where I am sure they would feel right at home. That would be great.

Deedee S

Truth be told, Indonesia supports these cruel acts. There may be a few Indonesians that go on newspaper forums and say they are against it but in reality, they ignore it. Beyond words put on a white background there is nothing. Normal Indonesian attitude. If they were sincere, they would be doing something about it.

There are basically three camps. Those who agree with this behavior and would accept it in their community, those who disagree with it but still stand idly by and do nothing and those who just go about life thinking nothing will ever affect them. The second and third camps will have a rude awakening.

Xsimaging

It'€™s very disturbing to know such punishment is still allowed in this country.

Saw

It'€˜s an international shame. A law created by a god, spoken to a man and interpreted by fools becomes an everyday living standard and no one does anything about it. Indonesia, you really need to force Aceh to form its own country. If not then at least force some laws on these people.

Sanctus

The people there are Indonesian citizens. The government shouldn'€™t wipe its hands of them; it should step in and protect them from such behavior.

Jakfan

Absolutely despicable to see someone being caned just because they were caught going out together in public. Where is the justice which is omnipresent within the country?

Our national ideology of Pancasila i.e. pluralism, democracy and social justice, which are essential for a multicultural country like Indonesia, must have been forgotten, rejected or even overruled if human rights are not respected and observed.

Isn'€™t it time the government, being the defender of our Pancasila and our Constitution, put a stop to laws that go against the wishes of the people?

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has instructed the Home Ministry to delete some 3,000 laws. Are the sharia laws in Aceh included? Why not if the country believes in freedom, pluralism, democracy and social justice?

It seems to me that Pancasila has not been actualized and its tenets are just slogans and rhetoric, not a reflection of the behavior of Indonesia as a nation.

Luwanto