Formalization of 'syariah' feared to spark problems
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Religious scholars and activists said on Friday that the inclusion of syariah (Islamic law) into formal legislation would be problematic because of various interpretations held among the Muslim community.
Nasaruddin Umar of the Jakarta-based State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) said that the lack of expert knowledge of the syariah, particularly in dealing with Islamic political strategy, would prove another problem in its implementation.
Nasaruddin was one of the speakers at a year-end discussion on the New Formulation of Constitution and Syariah Law organized by several women organizations on Thursday.
He said that Islamic boarding schools had never taught syariah and explored political strategy in Islam because it had been prohibited during the Dutch colonial days.
"The lack of syariah experts on political strategy will cause problems when various regions in Indonesian seek to apply the law," Nasaruddin said.
Other speakers of the discussion included Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of Advocacy for Indonesian Women at the Legal Aid Institute; Lily Munir, an expert at the office of the state minister of women's empowerment; Lies Marcoes-Natsir, a former member of the Indonesian Ulemas Council; Heriyanto of the Indonesian Religious and Peace Conference; Robert Borong of the Theology College in Jakarta and Huzaimah Tahido of IAIN.
They inclusion of syariah, particularly the seven words of the Jakarta Chapter, which obliges Muslims to abide by Islamic teachings, into the 1945 Constitution has been received positively by several Islamic parties.
But the idea to reinsert the seven words, dropped from the preamble of the 1945 Constitution as a compromise among the nation's founding fathers, was rejected by a majority of legislators in the People's Consultative Assembly during its recent Annual Session.
Heriyanto said the inclusion of the syariah in the nation's legislation could be considered discriminatory against Indonesia's minority groups.
"Even within Islam itself, there have been differences. How can syariah be applicable in such a diverse society," asked Heriyanto, who is a Catholic reverend.
He said that the proposal to include syariah in the Constitution is based more on political motives than religious considerations.
Robert added that formalizing syariah in Indonesia, would mean ignoring the country's pluralism.
He shared Heriyanto's remarks that the inclusion of syariah into formal legislation could be interpreted by other religions as using Islam as a political instrument.
According to Huzaimah, the content of syariah had already been accommodated in the Constitution, as well as in various laws and regulations so its formalization would not be necessary.
Huzaimah also said that the syariah constitutes one of the main references for the Criminal Code bill currently being prepared by the government.
Like other laws, Nursyahbani added, syariah abided with the principles of human rights -- democracy, opposing corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).