Aceh to form religious police to enforce 'syariah'

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.