Aceh sharia police target unmarried couples
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
Sharia police said on Sunday they had rounded up at least 36 unmarried women and men for dating in secluded, poorly-lit areas in Bireuen regency, Aceh province, where 15 men convicted of gambling were publicly caned last month.
The couples were accused of violating Article 11 and 14 of the local government regulation on sharia that has been implemented in Aceh since 2003.
"All the violators were arrested on Saturday night because by 10 p.m., they were still going out together in quiet places," a sharia police officer said.
The 36 people, comprising 16 unmarried couples and four other single women suspected of being prostitutes, were caught at a number of locations across the districts of Kota Juang and Peusangan.
However, all the detainees were later released after they made written statements vowing that they would not commit the same violations in the future.
The police said the raid on unmarried couples that were seen together beyond 10 p.m. was aimed at enforcing sharia in Bireuen.
In the first implementation of corporal punishment in Aceh, the Bireuen regental administration had 15 men convicted of gambling publicly caned on June 24.
The public canings were carried out in front of the Bireuen Grand Mosque and witnessed by some 3,000 rowdy spectators. The move also attracted wide attention from domestic and foreign media. A television station in Jakarta even broadcast it live.
So far, Aceh's Islamic law only regulates punishment for gamblers, those drinking alcoholic drinks, men failing to attend Friday prayers three consecutive times and men or women eating and selling food during the Ramadhan fasting month.
Muslim women who do not wear jilbab or the Muslim head scarf in the devoutly Muslim province are also subject to punishment under the law.
However, regulations stipulating punishment for killers, corrupters and thieves have yet to be implemented.
Ironically, soldiers violating sharia are not affected by the law as the military has its own special law to deal with crimes committed by its members.
A law on corporal punishment was passed in Bireuen last March. Other regencies have not adopted this punishment.
Before the canings took place in Bireuen, Aceh regional governments had already enforced the Muslim dress code, mandatory prayers five times a day and the giving of alms.
The sharia system was implemented in Aceh in 2003, two years after the central government granted special autonomy to the province in order to curb an independence campaign that Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels have been fighting for since 1976.