Aceh to form religious police to enforce 'syariah'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Aceh provincial administration will soon set up religious police to help effectively enforce Islamic syariah law in the rebellious province, a local senior official said on Tuesday.

"The establishment of the religious police is aimed at intensifying the implementation of the Islamic law in Aceh," provincial administration secretary Tanthawi Ishaq was quoted by Antara as saying to journalists in Banda Aceh.

Tanthawi said around 2,500 officers would be recruited from pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) and the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) to the new police force for an initial period of five years.

Subsequent recruitment would, however, still depend on the province budget, he added.

He said the religious police would fall under the jurisdiction of the syariah office of the provincial administration and that its members would be trained by local police.

"Its main task will be to supervise the implementation of Islamic law, such as the prohibition against extramarital affairs," Tanthawi said.

He urged people in the devoutly Muslim province to support the establishment of the religious police.

Tanthawi added that the authorities would start enforcing an Islamic dress code in the province on March 15, which is Islamic New Year.

He also called on non-Muslims to respect the move by not wearing immodest clothes.

Syariah law obliges women to cover all parts of their body except for their face, hands and soles of their feet, while men must cover their midriff and wear shorts that cover their knees.

The provincial administration and legislature are currently deliberating bylaws, which would set out in more detail the provisions of syariah law.

Tanthawi said owners of beauty parlors had to comply with the regulation that bans female workers from serving male customers.

Violators would have their business licenses revoked, he warned.

Tanthawi said some 10,000 people were expected to join a mass parade in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh on March 15 as part of activities to mark the start of the syariah implementation.

The parade would start at 9 a.m. from the Blang Padang field and will end up with mass prayers for peace at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the city, he said.

Other religious activities marking the start of the implementation of Islamic law will include a mass recitation of the Koran on the night of March 15.

The central government and the House of Representatives have approved a wide-ranging autonomy law to be implemented in resource-rich Aceh to appease separatist sentiment there.

The law makes provision for the granting of greater autonomy, which includes the implementation of syariah law and a larger share of oil and gas revenues.

In a further development, gunmen killed a man in the province on the eve of the arrival of Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the military said on Tuesday.

Two unidentified gunmen shot dead a 53-year-old man and wounded an 11-year-old girl in Lhokseumawe after dusk on Monday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin told AFP.

Susilo arrived on Tuesday for closed-door talks with local officials, who have declined to give details of the visit or its purpose.

An estimated 10,000 people have died since December 1976, when the separatist Free Aceh Movement began its fight for an independent Islamic state. Some 300 have been killed this year alone in the province.