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Thursday, March 16, 2006

9:55 AM

Points to ponder

Article 1: [ courtesy of the Straits Times http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/]
Pub Date: 15/03/2006 Pub: ST Page: 1,2
Headline: Leaving the back door open to Islamic law

SALIM OSMAN Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta

RESTAURANT worker Lilis Lindawati was waiting for a bus after work late onenight last month when a police van pulled up and a team of officers took heraway.

Her crime: She was alone after 7pm in a street near a red-light district inTangerang city, near Jakarta. She was accused of being a sex worker.

The next day she was charged in a civil court with being a prostitute, andwhen she could not prove otherwise, she was fined 300,000 rupiah (S$51) or eight days' jail in default. Never mind that she was a married woman, and pregnant at the time.

Her teacher husband Kustoyo, 40, did not have the money to pay her fine, soLilis spent a week behind bars.

She was prosecuted under a new local by-law that forbids women from beingout alone at night or with men not their husbands.

It is one of several rules for Muslims which city mayor Wahidin Halimintroduced in January.
Critics call it a back-door introduction of aspects of syariah or Islamiclaw in a country that prides itself on being a secular state.
The new rules also ban Muslims from kissing or embracing in public, orperforming acts that may be deemed erotic and indecent. Muslims are also banned from gambling and drinking alcohol. These offences bring a penalty of up to three months' jail or 15 million rupiah fines.

Mayor Wahidin told The Straits Times: 'We want to stamp out vices such as prostitution, pornographyand obscene acts in line with my mission to uphold akhlakul karimah in thiscity.' That is Arabic for 'exemplary conduct'.

The mayor is not alone. Tangerang is among 16 cities in West Java, WestSumatra, South Sulawesi and Kalimantan which, in the past three years, haveintroduced local laws based on syariah law. Aside from anti-vice laws, there are also rules forcing women and girls towear Islamic clothes and headscarves, and those that set standards ofproficiency in reciting the Quran and for the payment of religious tithes. For now, falling foul of these brings a reprimand at most. Local officials claim they have the power to introduce such laws for their own districts, thanks to political reforms after the fall of former president Suharto.

Besides, they say, they are only meeting the demands of Indonesia's Muslim masses. 'We just want to help the people observe the religious teachings andmaintain the tradition,' Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar told The Straits Times. But critics say that the regional leaders, backed by Muslim groups andpolitical parties that want syariah law introduced, are politically motivatedand out to safeguard their positions. Indonesian women's rights groups view the mandatory dress code and the banon women moving about alone at night as unwarranted restrictions on women's rights.

'It's gender biased,' said Ms Zohra Andi Baso of the Makassar-based SouthSulawesi Women's Forum. Analyst Dr Syafi'i Anwar, executive director of the Jakarta-basedInternational Centre for Islam and Pluralism, said: 'These are signs ofcreeping syariah-isation' of Indonesia. 'It's like enforcing syariah law through the back door.'

Despite being the world's largest Muslim nation, Indonesia is avowedlysecular and its legal system is non-religious. It implements some aspects of syariah law through Islamic courts which dealwith matters concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance, and religiousendowment. But it does not implement hudud, the criminal aspects of syariah thatprescribe punishments such as amputation of hands for thieves, whipping forreligious offences and stoning to death for adultery.

Previous bids to amend the country's 1945 Constitution and introduce syariahlaw have failed, with stiff resistence from not only non-Muslims but alsoMuslims who believe religion is a personal matter.
Recent actions by local officials to implement syariah-like laws are nowseen as a way around that resistence.
Even leaders of two mass-based Islamic organisations, the Muhammadiyah andthe Nahdhlatul Ulama, are against the recent moves.
The rector of the Jakarta-based State Islamic University of SyarifHidayatullah, Dr Azyumardi Azra, notes that the regional officials have steeredclear of imposing hudud laws 'because there would be an uproar in the country'if they did so.

Some of the new by-laws were enacted as early as 2003, but received scantattention initially because they were not enforced strictly. Last year, there was a furore in Padang when the mayor banned women fromtravelling alone at night and made the headscarf part of the uniform forschoolgirls and women civil servants. He subsequently withdrew the ban on women being out at night and clarifiedthat the headscarves rule did not apply to non-Muslims. But peer pressure has forced many non-Muslim schoolgirls and civil servantsto abide by rules on dressing, and that has upset scholars and human rightsactivists too.

Asked why the central government did not step in sooner, analyst Indra J.Piliang of the Jakarta-based think-tank, the Centre for Strategic andInternational Studies, said: 'I think the government was trying to be cautiousbecause religion is a sensitive matter.' Muslim-based political parties have so far remained silent, for fear ofupsetting the Muslim ground. Only the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) of Mr Hidayat Nurwahid, chairman ofthe National People's Assembly, backs the regional officials' actions.

The party wants syariah law introduced and is a key supporter of theYudhoyono administration. The nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) of formerpresident Megawati Sukarnoputri has said that introducing syariah law would bea 'gigantic step backwards' for the country. Party secretary-general Pramono Anung said there is also the fear of abacklash in regions where Muslims are not in the majority. Bali, for example, is predominantly Hindu, while North Sulawesi and Malukuare mainly Christian and Papua, Catholic. Home Minister Muhammad Ma'ruf has promised to review the by-laws to weed outthose that contravene the Constitution and the laws allowing regional autonomy.

But while Jakarta takes its time, more regions may go with the trend andintroduce similar laws too. And more women like Lilis might land in jail for no other reason than beingout alone at night.

I quote my former principal, Ms Lo "Think about it."

Article 2: [courtesy of http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/]
Pub Date: 15/3/06 ST Forum
By: Jeffrey LowExpedition Leader, Koh Kong Marine Conservation ProjectFacilitator, Sabah Marine Conservation Project: Beyond Lands End
Headline: Unfair to say youths lost spirit of volunteerism after overseas trip

I was quite surprised at the implication of the article "Youth aid projects: No more one-off stints" (ST, March 12) which seemed to imply that the volunteers under the Youth Expedition Programme ran by Singapore International Foundation did not continue with volunteerism upon their return from expeditions.
...
...
...
Another part of the "exisiting strategy" was also mentioned in the article - "take youth volunteerism beyond being a single project and just a few days of involvement."
I would like to point out that the YEP projects then ran for two to three weeks, and they required many weeks of preparation beforehand (and also afterward, if you count the presentations and the volunteer work they did, and are still doing, upon their return).
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I so agree with the writer of the letter. Overseas community project is not a 'one-off thing' which the volunteers participate in for 'a few days'. Having been involved in 2 overseas community involvment projects myself, the latest one last year, I can safely say that overseas community projects are definately a one-off thing. The writer mentions that it takes many weeks (we took months) of preparation beforehand. Without commitment, it is impossible for this project to succeed. On top of that, we had to juggle studies, promo exams, cca, and everything else in our lives with the OCIP programme. After the trip, we involved ourselves in the CNY celebrations preparation for residents of the Chershire home. (hope i spell correctly) Everyone in the team played a part, from fund-rising to helping out on the actual day itself. It is therefore absolutely unfair to say that it's 'a single project and just a few days of involvement'.

* will you catch me?