Caning comes into effect in Aceh on 1st day of Ramadhan
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Aceh provincial administration is to introduce caning as punishment in the upcoming fasting month Ramadhan for Muslims who do not carry out their religious obligations.
Aceh Ulema Consultative Assembly (MPU) chairman Muslim Ibrahim said on Saturday that caning would be meted out on Muslims in Aceh who took lunch during the fasting month.
During Ramadhan, Muslims are supposed to refrain from eating, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk. This year, Ramadhan is expected to start on Nov. 6.
Close to 85 percent of the country's 215 million population are Muslims.
Aceh, where secessionist group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for independence since 1976, was granted special autonomy status in 2001, under which the province was allowed, among other things, to implement Islamic law (sharia) in the territory.
Following the introduction of the special autonomy status, the Aceh provincial administration drafted a bylaw, locally known as Qanun, on sharia to be implemented in the country's westernmost province, where close to 98 percent of its population are Muslims.
"Caning will be introduced for Muslims who do not fast and are caught eating lunch in public places in the upcoming Ramadhan," Ibrahim was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday.
Provincial authorities, he said, would still discuss how the caning would be carried out and how many lashes of the cane would be administered. He suggested that the caning be carried out in open places for public viewing.
It is still unclear how the political elite in Jakarta would react to the move.
Last in August, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman Amien Rais reacted angrily to the Malaysian government's decision to cane illegal Indonesians workers in that country, arguing that caning was inhuman and therefore totally unacceptable.
"Frankly, I feel disappointed, angry, and unable to accept the fact that Malaysia, a modern country which belongs to the same Malay ethnic group (as Indonesia), has resorted to punishing illegal Indonesian workers in a way that is really inhuman," Amien said.
Several Muslim politicians also shared Amien's view.
According to Ibrahim, who is also a lecturer in post graduate studies at the Arraniry Darussalam State Islamic University, ulema in Aceh province have chosen caning over other forms of punishment such as fines or stoning to penalize those who do not observe the fasting month.
He said the ulema agreed not to choose fines as a punishment as it would only encourage more crimes or sinful acts for the people who were well off.
"Yes, we all agreed to adopt caning, not fines or stoning, because fines would be too easy for rich people," Ibrahim said.
However, he fell short of saying that stoning was too heavy a punishment for violators.