On September 14, the outgoing Aceh Legislative Council passed a set of bylaws (Qanun Jinayat) that effectively replaces certain sections of the Criminal Code with Sharia laws for Muslims. Among other things, these bylaws call for death by stoning for those caught in adultery. The Aceh governor has refused to sign off on these bylaws, but legally, since these bylaws were passed by the Legislative Council, they become law after 30 days, with or without the governor’s assent.
There has always been some doubt as to whether Aceh religious authorities can really execute a person caught in adultery by the process of stoning. In Indonesia, state laws/bylaws must not conflict with national laws. In this case, Indonesia’s national laws do not impose death by stoning. But this has to be tested in court, which is time consuming, and can be nerve wrecking for the person sentenced to death by stoning waiting for the court to overturn this using national laws.
So now the new Legislative Council has decided to do something about this. The new Aceh Legislative Council is led by the Aceh Party, which is made up of former separatist fighters from the Free Aceh Movement. Members of this new Council are more moderate than the last.
Hasbi Abdullah, acting legislative speaker of the new Legislative Council said: “The article on stoning needs to be revised most urgently because it is not suitable for the community in Aceh, despite the implementation of Islamic sharia law in the province.”
Then referring to the massive foreign aid that poured into Aceh in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, Hasbi Abdullah said: “Aceh is currently still being supervised by, and the focus of, international attention. We don’t want Aceh to be regarded as a place that is not friendly to the international community and lax on upholding human rights.”
Giving the clearest intention to change the bylaws, Hasbi Abdullah said: “The Aceh legislature will also amend three other sharia bylaws previously approved by the former legislature. The three bylaws passed by the previous legislature are ticking time bombs that will explode if we fail to thoroughly deliberate them, and this is the duty of the new legislature.”
Ticking time bombs? Explaining further, Hasbi Abdullah said that the people of Aceh were not ready for such a bylaw because it went against the spirit of basic human rights.
Think about it. Why did the conservative outgoing Aceh Legislative Council rushed through the bylaws before its term expired? Did they not know that the people of Aceh are not ready for these bylaws? Have they no regard for basic human rights? And is Hasbi Abdullah right that if left alone, these bylaws are ticking time bombs ready to explode? And why pass bylaws that contradict national laws, knowing full well that national laws will prevail in the event of a conflict?
Earlier posts
Seems like a very confusing situation!