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Bringing Aceh back in: Is sharia really needed? [By Bachtiar Effendy]
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Tapol
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Nov 05, 2009 03:26 PST
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From Joyo
The Jakarta Post Thursday, November 5, 2009
Bringing Aceh back in: Is sharia really needed?
Bachtiar Effendy, Jakarta
It seems almost natural that the Aceh legislature has passed a
bill on adultery based on Islamic sharia - which derives from
the Koran and Sunnah (traditions of Prophet Muhammad). According
to the Koran, adultery is punishable by 100 strokes of the cane.
A married person committing adultery has to be stoned to death.
This should come as no surprise to us given the central
government's commitment to honor the political arrangements of
2001 that gave Aceh semi-autonomy and the unique position of
being administered by Islamic sharia. Interestingly, the bill on
adultery which was passed in early October this year by Aceh's
regional parliament is still being put on hold. Aceh governor,
the sole executor of any policies designed for the province, is
reportedly still not willing to sign it into law.
The bill's fate is still not clear. But, if such thing - the
passing of the bill by the regional parliament on one hand, and
the unwillingness of the executive to sign it on the other -
persists, it will not only create a political debacle in the
region, but also raise questions regarding the whole idea of
sharia as the governing mechanism of the province. Why bother
having Islamic law if it is not going to be put into practice?
While the impasse between legislative and executive bodies may
generate concern, especially with regard to the seriousness of
some of the elites to implement sharia, it provides
opportunities to once again discuss the position of sharia in
Aceh. In this case, one simple question that has never actually
been presented to the Acehnese in general is whether or not they
really need their justice system to be based on sharia.
More than any other region in the country, Islam occupies a very
special position in Aceh, to the extent that Aceh is symbolized
by the nickname "Veranda of Mecca". Due to this socio-cultural
trait, Aceh has never been historically treated as a secular
region. At the same time, the government never authorized Aceh
to be administered by Islamic principles.
Interestingly, no complaints were ever lodged against the
central government on this matter. The uneasy relationship
between two important leaders, rebel leader Daud Bereueh and
former President Sukarno, for instance, did not involve
religious issues. Similarly, Hassan Tiro's bitter enmity toward
the government did not concern Islam among Acehnese. Indeed, the
existence of the Free Aceh Movement only strengthened the belief
that it was economic and political justice that the Acehnese
were after.
A struggle to demand economic and political justice is not
something that is unique to Aceh. Virtually all the other
regions seek the same agenda. These were actually the
expectations of any existing regions when they decided to join
the unitary state of Indonesia. By integrating themselves into a
greater Indonesia, the common ideals - stability, security, and
prosperity - can theoretically be more easily achieved.
Under these circumstances there was no justifiable reason for
the government to authorize Aceh to administer its affairs in
accord with Islamic law as part of its special status. In fact,
by doing so, the central government has actually planted a time
bomb where Aceh would be viewed by other regions as a regional
test case for Islamic sharia at work.
During my recent visit to Aceh I sensed that not even the
Acehnese are interested in turning their region into a
laboratory for the implementation of sharia. Instead, they want
to seize their moment - the golden opportunity that has been
presented to them since the fall of Soeharto, and especially
after the 2005 peace agreement - so that they can develop Aceh
socio-culturally, economically, and politically.
I might be wrong, but the Acehnese perceive the implementation
of certain sharia laws such as the adultery law as hindering
their efforts to catch up with the country's more developed
regions.
It is time that both the government and the parliament need to
re-evaluate the authority given to Aceh to administer itself by
sharia. It certainly has influenced other regions to pass
controversial sharia bylaws - a development that has raised
concern and called for a repeal of these bylaws.
The fact that Islam is an important aspect of Indonesian social,
political, and legal culture is not something that can be
overlooked. Yet as shown in many of our national laws, the
necessity to accommodate Islam has to be partial in nature.
While the existence of Islamic family law and rules concerning
the management of hajj (the pilgrimage), are perfectly
acceptable, an attempt to introduce or pass criminal laws based
on Islamic sharia would certainly polarize the country.
Bringing Aceh back in the unitary, secular nature of Indonesia's
legal arrangement is an initial step in preventing that from
occurring.
The writer is Dean of the State Islamic University's School of
Social and Political Sciences in Jakarta
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