Sharia Law In Aceh – Caning & Death

Indonesia is again in the news.  This time it involves Aceh, best known as the worst hit area during the 2004 tsunami that hit Indonesia.  In a couple more weeks, the Aceh Party (made up of former separatist fighters from the Free Aceh Movement) will take power in the new provincial assembly.

But this new provincial assembly is more moderate than the outgoing one.  So not surprisingly, the outgoing provincial assembly is rushing to pass a slew of new legislations before its term of office expires. Recently it passed a law which effectively replaces parts of Indonesia’s criminal laws with sharia law. These changes will become effective 30 days later.

The new law provides for caning for a variety of offenses, including, adultery, premarital sex, consumption of alcohol, rape, sexual harassment, homosexuality and gambling. Punishments include up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling. However, it is the punishment for adultery that is causing an uproar.

As proposed, for unmarried people caught in adultery the punishment is up to 100 lashes of the cane. But for married people committing adultery, the punishment is death by stoning. Ifdhal Kasim, Head of the National Commission on Human Rights said: “The laws that have been approved in Aceh are cruel and degrading to humanity. This will bring Aceh back to the past. Throwing stones is like Aceh in the fourteenth or fifteenth centurie.”

Added Andreas Harsono from the Human Rights Watch: “The law only deals with petty crimes, adulterers, but it doesn’t deal with significant crimes such as corrupt officials.”

Arif Budimanta from the opposition Democratic Party of Struggle  condemned the law,saying: “We are deeply concerned about this cruel law as it is against our national ideology and values of pluralism.” 

But Ma’ruf Amin, the head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, Indonesia’s top Islamic body, welcomed the new hardline law: “The Council supports sharia law in areas where it is allowed, like Aceh, which has special autonomy. It’s not a matter of good or bad. For Muslims, sharia law is the best and can be implemented anytime, anywhere.” 

Aceh was granted the right to impose Sharia law as part of a special autonomy deal. Aceh is the only part of Indonesia that has the legal right to apply Islamic law (Sharia) in full.

Think about it.  How effective is this law going to stop acts of adultery? How in the first place is adultery going to be proved?  Under Sharia law, the charge of adultery must be backed up by four witnesses who caught the couple in the very act of adultery!  Now surely no adulterous couple is going to be so careless as to commit the act in public in areas where Sharia law is in force. But can there be a frame up?  According to Sharia law, the person who makes a false accusation is himself liable to be caned 80 times. So it won’t be easy to have 4 false witnesses.  So what is to be achieved by stoning a married adulterous couple to death?