Thread: Women caught in a more radical Indonesia

Women caught in a more radical Indonesia

By Jane Perlez The New York Times

Published: June 27, 2006


TANGERANG, Indonesia To a passer-by, the dress and demeanor of Lilis Lindawati would have attracted little attention as she waited in the dark in this busy industrial city for a ride home.

She wore green pants, a denim jacket, beige sandals with modest heels, burgundy lipstick and penciled eyebrows. Her black hair flowed freely, unencumbered by a head scarf, the sign of a religious Muslim woman that is increasingly prevalent in Indonesia but not mandatory.

In a now widely recounted incident, Lindawati, 36, was hustled into a government van that clammy February evening by brown-uniformed police, known as tranquillity and public order officers.

"They put about 20 of us in the police station and then went out again to target the hotels," she said, telling the story as she sat on the floor of her family's two-room, $12-a-month rental, her husband beside her.

She was charged with being a prostitute under a new local law forbidding lewd behavior, and in an unusual public hearing attended by local dignitaries and residents, she was sentenced with some of the other women to three days in jail.

Lindawati insists she is not a prostitute.

Her case has become a symbol of an increasingly impassioned tussle in Indonesia between those who favor the introduction of Shariah, or Islamic law, by local governments, and those who assert that this large Muslim country, recognized for its moderation and diversity, must hold firm to its secular Constitution of 1945.

Nearly 30 local governments have introduced Shariah laws or Shariah- inspired legislation, from Aceh in the far north, where Shariah laws have lain quiescent on the books for several years but are now being enforced by special Shariah courts, to southern Sulawesi and small islands farther west.

In Aceh, the province devastated by the tsunami in December 2004, officers belonging to a special Shariah police unit stop women on the street who do not have their head scarves properly adjusted and often impose fines. In some instances, women have been publicly whipped for being caught in public with men who are not their husbands, said Suraiya Kamaruzzaman, a founder of Flower Aceh, a women's rights group.

In Sulawesi, one of Indonesia's main islands, three southern districts have passed Shariah legislation and are establishing Shariah courts to enforce the laws. Schoolgirls have been sent home for wearing clothes considered insufficiently modest. In some places, women who are government officials must wear a head scarf to work.

To many, the new laws represent stealthy movement toward excessive intrusion of Islam into Indonesia's political process, often with the backing of the Justice and Prosperity Party, a fast-rising Islamic party.

Moderates are battling an anti-pornography bill, backed in the national legislature by the Justice and Prosperity Party, that would impose a one-year prison sentence for women wearing miniskirts and five years for couples caught kissing in public. In another incident that is interpreted as a sign of growing grass-roots intolerance, a convert to Islam was jailed in a municipality in east Java earlier this year for leading prayers in a national language rather than in Arabic.

Some leading moderates say they worry that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the first directly elected leader of Indonesia and to many the personification of a tolerant Islam, has been too slow to react.

In a speech in early June, Yudhoyono revived the notion of a state ideology, known as Pancasila, which is generally seen as Indonesia's commitment to secular government and of unity in diversity.

But Pancasila, created by Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, came into its own as an ideology under General Suharto, the long-ruling authoritarian leader who was toppled in 1998. By the end of Suharto's rule, Pancasila had fallen in esteem, too, leaving some moderates wondering whether the doctrine remained the best vehicle for reining in the new trend.

"It was a good speech reaffirming Pancasila and condemning Shariah," said T. Mulya Lubis, a prominent lawyer and chairman of the Society for Democracy and Education, "but it was not enough."

More than 50 members of Parliament recently signed a letter urging the president to abolish the Shariah-inspired local laws.

The president, Lubis said, is overly concerned about offending some of the Islamic parties, particularly the Justice and Prosperity Party, which has supported him in Parliament.

"The president believes his persona alone can defeat the Islamists," but that is not necessarily the case, the lawyer said.

Lubis said he planned to take speakers to universities and schools across the country in the coming months to emphasize the moderate traditions of Indonesia.

Not all of the new local laws are enforced by special Islamic courts. The mayor of Tangerang, Wahidin Halim, who initiated the regulation under which Lindawati was charged, said he was trying to clean up public morals, not impose Islam.

The Tangerang law, which came into force in November, bans passionate hugging or kissing, and prohibits the sale or consumption of alcohol except in upscale hotels. One result, many women say, is that they must be off the streets by dusk.

"The idea is to develop good morality, good behavior, to be a more civilized society," Wahidin said in an interview in his home garden. "The Islamic parties love my programs, but that doesn't mean we have the same ideology."

Supporters of Lindawati are fighting her case on legal, not ideological or religious grounds.

Like most of the new local laws that are intended to govern people's personal behavior, the Tangerang regulation is unconstitutional, said Dedi Ali Ahmad, chairman of the Indonesian Legal and Aid and Human Rights Association in Jakarta.

"Charging someone on the suspicion of prostitution is not enough under the national law," he said. "You cannot arrest someone for just being in a vicinity. They have to have attempted a crime."

The Legal Aid Association was seeking a judicial review of the Tangerang regulation in the Supreme Court, Dedi said.

At the same time, Lindawati has filed a defamation suit against the mayor.

In the suit, Lindawati contends she was on the street waiting for a bus after coming into the center of town to claim back wages from a restaurant where she worked as a waitress.

She said she is so poor - her husband holds a low-paying job as a gym teacher at an elementary school - that she had sold her cellphone just before her arrest to feed her two teenage children.

"I have done nothing wrong," she said.

:shock: :shock:

It is interesting to note that the higher PETRO PRICES are the less freedoms you see globally, the more you see governments usurping power. In the United states the loss of rights is in the name of fighting terror, Jesus, and Spreading Democracy. In other parts of the world in the name of Religion which seems to make it more palatable for the masses; but it does appear to be a global phenomena. The rise in nationalism negates the fact that this is totally unsustainable, causes incredibly volatility globally and vulnurabitliy gloabally to the poorest countries, in that we are all interdependant . It does allow politicians to maintain power temporarily, until this posture becomes more painful. It is ashame stupidity is not more painful. Politicinas are kind of like diapers and they need to be changed for the same reason.

Leap of faith wrote:

I was in Aceh working with the Indonesian Red Cross a few days after the Tsunami

You wrote that as an aside, making your way to another point. I don’t want to leave it unnoticed, and so I say...good on you. I guess I should also add a somewhat belated welcome to the forum.

Odd, is it not, that you seemed to have jumped in here, almost unnoticed, and making some very good points. I’ll bet that I’m not the only one who first off, missed that.

Good on you for your work in Aceh, and cheers to more of your insights.

Sorry "Leap" another quote I really liked:

The demand by the people of Indonesia for democracy, a fair judiciary and an end to the corruption that has bled the country dry is immense. It is my belief that this demand will be satisfied in the end..

I totally agree with your words. I wish that in posts I have previously made, I could have been as articulate as your words.

There are a number of Indonesian women, Balinese, and other Indonesians, that normally contribute here (and with great insight) on a regular basis. Your comment of course, and as I quoted it, is not just for women, but the string is, I guess, so I for one would love to hear more from other posters on this topic.

You’re “on a roll” so how about an avatar, (photo)? Once again, a hearty welcome, and a perfectly dry gin martini, (or two) on me on your next visit to Ubud?

ROY ...its funny how you welcomed "leap of faith" when you did . I felt the same way on a prior string they , he or she , had added some good points ...leap of faith ...glad to have your on "board" , being only a stalker on this forum Im glad Roy brought up the "howdy" ...

Jimbo, may I turn your question to “leap” upon yourself? Or, better explained, I would ask, where in Islam, where strict Sharia law prevails, is there also a robust economy?

Without “speaking” for “leap” I think he or she is understanding a well defined distinction between conservative Islam and Sharia Islam.