ICC Note:
Indonesia has been steadily drifting away from secularism and further toward a widespread implementation of Sharia law. Since Indonesia granted provinces the power to make their own laws more than 442 Sharia based ordinances have gone into effect. In places like Aceh, Sharia law is growing. The most recent mayor of Banda Aceh issued a nighttime curfew for women and a strict moral code. She even stormed a beauty pageant, questioned the participants in front of news cameras for not wearing a head scarf, and shut down the pageant. Aceh is one of the poorest regions in Indonesia. The strict implementation of Sharia law has resulted in the public caning of law breakers, including Christians, and the destruction of churches.
1/13/2017 Indonesia (The New York Times) – Things were hopping at Redinesh Coffee Roastery in this seaside city one recent evening. Electronic dance music blared from the cafe’s speakers as patrons, some in ripped jeans and fashionable spectacles, sat outside drinking locally sourced coffee and smoking cigarettes.
But then the Muslim call to prayer sounded, and a waitress hurriedly ushered everyone back into the cafe. She turned down the music, closed the doors and covered the windows. It was the Maghrib — the second to last of the five daily calls to prayer — and outdoor socializing had to cease.
Aceh Province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, stands alone in having formally established Shariah law in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country with a relatively secular Constitution. In Aceh, women are required to dress modestly, alcohol is prohibited, and numerous offenses — from adultery to homosexuality to selling alcohol — are punishable by public whipping.
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