Politicking Islam to solve Aceh problem

Politicking Islam to solve Aceh problem

Otto Syamsuddin Ishak, Sociologist, Author, 'Dari Maaf ke Panik Aceh'
(From Apologies to Aceh Panic), Jakarta

The Aceh administration seized the ritual momentum of the
Islamic New Year, 1 Muharam 1423 (March 15, 2002) to declare the
implementation of syariah or Islamic law in the province.

Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, whose management is still under
the spotlight for alleged corruption, has also declared he is
clean.

The declaration reflects that bureaucrats will be clean; it
also implies a call to forget corruption cases involving members
of the civilian and military bureaucracies -- instead of
uncovering and eradicating corruption. Attempts to make people
forget human rights violations seems to be the next step.

In Aceh, military domination marked by combat policy, the
intelligence and territorial operation and the dispatch of some
50,000 soldiers has become the basis of Jakarta's bureaucracy
from the provincial to village administrations.

However, crimes against humanity (mysterious murders, mass
executions, burnings, lootings, kidnapping and extortion) and
other crimes (illegal levies in the streets, corruption, illegal
lotteries, drug abuse and prostitution) have increased rapidly,
while public space for civil society which strives for a
sovereign and dignified life is narrowing.

The introduction of syariah in Aceh has been said to serve as
an instrument to help speed up the solution to the Aceh problem.

Yet there is a strong indication that syariah has been used as
Jakarta's political instrument in solving its conflict with Aceh
-- not as a means of fostering a civilized life as is inherent in
the basic meaning of the word syariah.

Aceh is occupied by the oldest Muslim community in the
archipelago. It is well known not only as the starting point of
Islamic propagation in the country; it was also the center of
Islamic thought in the era of Hamzah Fansuri, a Muslim religious
leader related to Sufism.

Islam has become a foundation for the Acehnese community, one
that lives as a sovereign, dignified and highly civilized people.
Though the Acehnese strongly adhere to Islam, they have been able
to accommodate sectarian, religious and ethnic plurality. Before
Aceh became part of Indonesia, there were no sectarian, religious
and ethnic conflicts in that region.

Therefore the Acehnese had never thought of establishing an
Islamic country (except a sultanate) as much as they have neither
thought of implementing syariah. The latter idea surfaced in the
1950s, when the Acehnese, led by Tengku Daud Beureueh as the
region's head, were struggling to free themselves from
Indonesia's "political betrayal" by establishing the Islamic
Republic of Aceh.

In the reconciliation between Aceh and Jakarta, one demand was
the implementation of syariah. During the New Order period, the
special status was merely symbolic, serving as Indonesia's
acknowledgement of the Acehnese' services to the Republic. It was
not regarded as it should be: A result of reconciliation or as
part of the Aceh-Indonesia political contract, which was renewed
in the 1960s.

When Aceh's status as a military operation region (DOM) was
revoked on Aug.7, 1998, and the demand for upholding human rights
was ignored, the Acehnese strove to end Indonesia's role as the
ruling state in Aceh. Demands emerged for a referendum of self
determination, whether Aceh should separate from the Republic.

However Usman Hasan, the chairman of former president B.J.
Habibie's team of advisors and Safwan Idris, rector of the Ar-
Raniry State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) in Kutaraja in
Aceh, who allegedly harbored ambitions to become minister of
religious affairs, proposed the implementation of syariah in
Aceh, a measure which was said to win the hearts of the Acehnese.

In mid 1999, the Acehnese began to be trapped in provocative
actions such as raiding individuals who were suspected of
violating syariah, long before it was officially introduced.
There were instances of arbitrary capture, trial and punishment
in public of males and females involved in adultery by stoning
them to death, parading or cutting their hair in front of a
mosque and so forth.

In some villages, men caught women and girls who did not wear
the jilbab (head scarves) and women also caught men who failed to
perform the Friday prayers at the mosque (compulsory for males).
Seeds of conflicts between people, caused by religion, began to
be sowed. Revenge spread from one village to another; villagers
would capture other villagers on charges of violating syariah,
when they had heard of the capture and abuse of fellow residents.

In time people realized that such actions could trigger
needless conflicts among themselves. Unfortunately, Habibie's
successor, Abdurrahman Wahid, in his globe-trotting trips, would
repeatedly say that the Acehnese were fundamentalists and that
the Free Aceh Movement harbored ambitions to set up an Islamic
state. This tactic was adopted to ensure that the real tragedy of
the Acehnese, who are victims of crimes against humanity, would
not gain international sympathy.

Abdurrahman or Gus Dur, further encouraged the introduction of
the syariah as a solution to the conflict between Aceh and the
Republic of Indonesia.

Syariah in Aceh is the product of three regimes. The
initiative for this special law first came into being when
Habibie was president. Then in Gus Dur's era, it was legalized
and today, during the administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri,
it has been implemented.

Strangely, Gus Dur, renowned for his background of "cultural
Islam" has legalized attempts to apply Islam in Aceh's social,
economic and political structure -- a measure which can only be
explained by political interests. Aceh's cultural Islam, which is
inclusive as it accommodates many schools of Islam, could not be
approached by the "exclusive" cultural Islam championed by Gus
Dur. Hence, having Aceh adopt a "structural Islam" seems to be
Jakarta's main current political agenda regarding Aceh.

Gus Dur's intention started to become clear when the Laskar
Jihad entered Aceh, and KAMMI, the student movement affiliated
with the Justice Party, raised artificial issues such as women
having their photographs taken without headscarves, and raising
opposition to Acehnese suggestions that a third country be
involved as a mediator in the conflict with Jakarta.

Thus, Gus Dur's policies to politicize Islam are evident in
the way that they have opened the door for a strict movement of
Islam, whose proponents have appeared anti-Western, undemocratic
and are not concerned with the crimes against humanity in Aceh.

Such proponents therefore share the above characteristics with
those of Jakarta's mainly military policy.

If Laskar Jihad and KAMMI are not concerned with Indonesia's
crimes against humanity in victimizing the Acehnese, then Jakarta
will benefit from having these crimes hidden. If militaristic
actions aim to divide the Acehnese and avoid the attention of the
international community, then eventually this will happen, as a
result from new problems posed by a shift of focus to symbolic
religious matters and the rejection to outside "interference" on
the state of the humanitarian affairs of the Acehnese.

If syariah cannot resolve Indonesian crimes against humanity
in Aceh, then what is its significance? Is syariah only a means
to control people who wear shorts, while those wearing trousers
and carrying rifles continue to kill the Acehnese and are allowed
to roam throughout all corners of Aceh and Indonesia?

The application of syariah in Aceh would therefore only be a
waste of energy.