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View all search resultsThe deadly, intimidating school uniform
This exchange shows that inappropriate policies on religious attire create serious problems for this pluralistic nation: social segregation, intimidation and discrimination against children, even the death of children.
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L
ast year, 10 female students died during their school’s mandatory scout activity. They were among the nearly 250 students who were swept away by a flash flood while trekking along Sempor River in Yogyakarta. The students who were killed were all wearing long skirts as part of the scout uniform for Muslims. Wahyu Efendi L., the Yogyakarta head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), attributed the uniform for making the girls especially prone to being dragged away by the strong flood current.
However, the accident was deemed a case of regulatory noncompliance. The National Scout Movement regulation on boy and girl scout uniforms prescribes two types of uniforms for veiled Muslim students: a “daily” uniform with a long skirt and a field uniform with trousers.
Still, why not have just one uniform for female scouts instead of two? What is the point of wearing a long skirt for daily scout activities? Do daily scout activities not include physical and outdoor activities? What is the point of the scouts if it doesn’t involve physical and outdoor activities? And the most important question: Why should a faith-based uniform neglect the wearer’s safety?
Since the implementation of regional autonomy in 2001, controversy has been rife over the practice at many public schools that enforces or prohibits religious attire, especially the hijab. Muslim female students encountered hijab bans in predominantly non-Muslim regions (such as cases in Denpasar in 2014, Maumere in 2017, Merauke in 2018), while cases of compulsory hijab were found in Muslim-majority provinces (West Sumatra, Riau, West Java).
While the cases of hijab bans were resolved in a matter of days following media reports with the schools allowing Muslim students to wear a hijab, it took two decades to end the compulsory hijab dress code non-Muslim female students faced in many parts of the country.
In most cases, the solution to the compulsory hijab rule was unfair to non-Muslim female students, meaning that they either had to take it or leave it.
Between 2001 and 2007, nine out of 19 regional governments in West Sumatra imposed a compulsory hijab regulation for all female students. On paper, this sharia-inspired bylaw applies only to Muslim students, but in reality, many public schools implemented the rule indiscriminately, as reported by studies published in Journal Religio (2017), Journal Perempuan (2008) and Tempo Magazine (2005 and 2008).
