Indonesian stoning law to be reviewed: govt [+Lessons on tackling
radical Islam
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Tapol
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Oct 27, 2009 06:12 PST
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From Joyo
also: The Atlantic: Indonesia Offers Lessons on Tackling Radical
Islam
Indonesian stoning law to be reviewed: govt
Nurdin Hasan
Oct 26 (AFP) -- An Islamic law authorising the stoning to death
of adulterers and the whipping of homosexuals in Indonesia's
Aceh province will be reviewed, officials said.
The law enacted by the former Aceh Legislative Council on
September 14 would be reconsidered by the newly elected council
and has not been signed into effect by the governor of the
conservative Muslim province.
Human rights activists and officials in Jakarta have expressed
concern that lawmakers in Aceh are out of step with the rest of
the mainly moderate Muslim country, and have asked for the law
to be withdrawn.
"The governor has refused to sign the by-law because of the
stoning (provision), which is identical to a death sentence,"
Aceh government spokesman Abdul Hamid Zein told AFP.
"From the beginning the Acehnese government hasn't agreed with
the stoning law. We hope the parliament will discuss the law
again."
The new regulations -- which allow punishments of up to 400
lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60
lashes for gambling -- were unanimously passed by lawmakers in
the final weeks of the outgoing parliament.
They are supposed to replace elements of Indonesia's secular
criminal code, causing umbrage in Jakarta which wants to portray
Indonesia as a developing, modernising democracy with a moderate
Muslim majority.
Earlier this month the Acehnese government publicly disowned
Miss Indonesia beauty pageant winner Qori Sandioriva, 18,
because she did not wear an Islamic veil during the contest.
US-based Human Rights Watch has urged the central government and
the new local parliament in Aceh to overturn the stoning law,
saying "stoning and flogging constitute torture in any
circumstances."
Acehnese Governor Irwandi Yusuf has stated his opposition to the
draconian measures, putting him at odds with more hardline
religious leaders.
Provincial parliament speaker Hasbi Abdullah said the parliament
which was inaugurated on September 30 was "generally" opposed to
the stoning law and its revision would be a priority for the new
lawmakers.
Yusuf's Aceh Party controls 33 of the new parliament's 69 seats.
But Moharriadi Syafari, from the influential Prosperous Justice
Party (PKS), said the law had automatically come into force in
the middle of October, or 30 days after it was approved by the
outgoing parliament.
"The by-law comes into effect 30 days after it's been approved
even if the governor has refused to sign it," he said.
"Those who disagree can seek a judicial review at the Supreme
Court. If the parliament is to revise it, it will have to wait a
year as that's the rule."
He said outsiders had the wrong impression if they thought the
law would lead to people being stoned to death and whipped in
Indonesia.
"Just because the law has been passed, it doesn't mean many
people in Aceh will be stoned. It's very difficult to prove
adultery. Even if people admit to adultery, they will not
automatically be stoned," he said.
"The main reason for the law is to save Acehnese people from
committing deeds that are prohibited by the religion so that
they will be free from the torment of the flames of hell."
The PKS is a relatively new Islamic party which has had
impressive electoral success across Indonesia and wields
influence in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's new national
government, which was formed last week.
The PKS -- which has roots in Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood
-- took four out of 34 posts in Yudhoyono's new cabinet.
--------------------
The Atlantic Wire (USA)
October 26, 2009
Indonesia Offers Lessons on Tackling Radical Islam
By Max Fisher
Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population and was once
a hub of Al Qaeda and radical militant activity. One 2002
bombing in the beachside idyll of Bali infamously killed 202
people, mostly tourists. But Indonesia has calmed of late, with
America's favorability polling at 63%, up from 15% in 2003. How
did this happen? Indonesia has been relatively left alone by
Western powers, spared the sort of interventions employed in
Iraq and Palestine. As U.S. forces struggle to tamp down
extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, could Indonesia's shift
toward moderation offer lessons to the West?
* Indonesia Moderated When Left Alone: Washington Post's Andrew
Higgins explores how Indonesia came to be "moving in America's
direction" after failed post-9/11 attempts to promote
moderation. "More-conservative Muslims never liked what they
viewed as American meddling in theology. Their unease over U.S.
motives escalated sharply with the start of the Iraq war and
spread to a wider constituency," he writes. "Indonesia is a
democracy and the role of Islam is one of the most important
issues facing U.S. policy in a country with many more Muslims
than Egypt, Syria, Jordan and all the Arab countries of the
Persian Gulf combined. What kind of Islam prevails here is
critical to U.S. interests across the wider Muslim world."
Higgins extrapolates the success in Indonesia. "Should Americans
stand apart from Islam's internal struggles around the world or
jump in and try to bolster Muslims who are in sync with American
views?" he asks, implying that only the former can work.
* Fighting Radical Islam, Less Is More Foreign Policy's: Marc
Lynch sees support here for a hands-off approach, which he says
President Obama shares. "It demonstrates how overt American
attempts to promote 'moderate Muslims' or 'liberal Islam'
routinely backfire -- and offers more evidence in support of the
Obama administration's hands-off, disaggregated approach to what
used to be called the 'war of ideas'," he writes. "Identifying
'moderate Muslims' by the U.S. consistently tarnished their
credibility with the audiences which they most needed to reach.
Funding them made American 'idea warriors' feel all robust, but
generally had little positive effect and often made things
worse." Lynch suggests Obama understands this well. "Instead of
building up al-Qaeda and its affiliated movements with an
exaggerated focus on 'violent extremism', he isolates and
marginalizes them by switching the conversation to other things
about which ordinary Muslims and Arabs care far more."
* But Anti-Americanism Remains: Huffington Post's Antony
Loewenstein visits Aceh, a devoutly Islamic province ravaged by
the 2004 tsunami. He finds little cause for optimism. "I found
unconventional attributes of an Islamic state and fierce
resistance to orthodox interpretations of the Koran. Aceh is not
Saudi Arabia, Iran or Gaza, all places I have witnessed creeping
Islamization and brave men and women challenging its
implementation. Aceh remains a traumatized province despite a
2005 peace deal that ended the decades-old, violent conflict.
Sharia law is now implemented with homosexuality and adultery
punishable by stoning. Poverty is rife -- the smell of rubbish
is everywhere and dirty water runs across some streets -- while
women mostly wear headscarves and sit separately from men at
public events," he writes. "The idea of a benevolent America was
appealing but images on satellite television from the Arab world
dispelled those myths very quickly."
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