Sharia has 'little chance in the country'

Sharia has 'little chance in the country'

Tarko Sudiarno and Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post,
Yogyakarta/Jakarta

Sharia, or Islamic law, has little chance of being adopted in
Indonesia, politicians and a Muslim figure said.

People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on
Wednesday that being a pluralistic nation, Indonesia would have
tremendous difficulties in applying sharia.

"People tend to simplify things and think that if sharia is
implemented everything will be fine and social welfare will
improve. Well, it does not work that way all the time," Amien
told The Jakarta Post at his house in Sleman, Yogyakarta.

Amien was commenting on reports that a number of regencies in
the country had begun enforcing sharia to different degrees.

Besides in Aceh, sharia also has been introduced in Pamekasan
regency in East Java; Maros, Sinjai and Gowa regencies in South
Sulawesi; and the regencies of Cianjur, Indramayu and Garut in
West Java.

In Indramayu, sharia has been implemented in the form of
requiring civil servants to wear Muslim clothes on Fridays, to
recite from the Koran for 30 minutes before beginning work and to
fast every Monday and Thursday.

In Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, it has been ruled that
thieves will have their hands amputated, as required by sharia.
However, no one in the regency has yet been punished in this
manner.

Amien said Indonesian Muslims should give careful
consideration before implementing sharia because it could taint
the image of Islam, as happened in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, he did not rule out provinces implementing Islamic
law, as long as they met certain requirements.

"Provinces that wish to implement sharia in their regions
should meet some requirements, such as at least 95 percent of the
population is Muslim and all of the members of the provincial
legislature endorse the proposal," Amien said.

But he doubted that the regions would be able to implement
sharia because they did not have the same historical background
as Aceh.

Noted Muslim intellectual Azyumardi Azra said in Jakarta that
it would be difficult to implement sharia here because of the
absence of a common platform and significant political and legal
support.

He also said that those regencies that were implementing
Islamic law had narrowed the concept of sharia.

"Sharia is mostly interpreted as the obligation to wear a
jilbab (headdress) for women or a koko (shirt) and
kopiah (hat) for men. Actually, it is more than just rulings on
physical appearance," Azyumardi, rector of Syarif Hidayatullah
State Islamic University, told the Post.

From the Islamic point of view, sharia touches on all aspects
of Muslim life, including establishing a criminal code, he said.

Azyumardi added that the implementation of sharia, especially
the criminal code, would create problems because Indonesia did
not have the legal framework to support such a move.

"Regions that apply sharia's criminal code are violating the
Constitution, and it is the obligation of the Supreme Court to
ban them from enforcing such a criminal code," he said.

Another Muslim figure, Rusjdi Hamka, said the regencies
introducing sharia interpreted Islamic law differently.

"So far, the implementation of sharia is just a slogan. I
myself have yet to find a suitable concept that can be applied in
Indonesia," Rusjdi, co-chairman of the United Development Party
(PPP), told the Post.

The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's
highest legislative body, dejected during its Annual Session in
August a proposal from Muslim-based parties, including the PPP,
to include sharia in Article 29 of the Constitution.

Rusjdi and Azyumardi agreed that a lack of support from
political parties and the Assembly limited the possibility of
implementing sharia in the country.

"Campaigners for sharia account for only 4 percent of the
MPR's (700) members. It is not really significant. And some
parties are campaigning for the adoption of sharia out of
political interests," Azyumardi said.