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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesian MPs Rise Up Against Sharia Bylaws |
| 2006-06-14 |
| Jakarta, 14 June (AKI/Jakarta Post) - Concerned by the creeping Islamisation of the country's secular state, 56 national legislators are urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to abolish sharia-based bylaws already in place or risk the country's disintegration. In a petition, including signatories from Muslim-based political parties, the MPs said local administrations' implementation of the bylaws contravened the 1945 Constitution and the five principles enshrined in the Pancasila state ideology. While the country is overwhelmingly Muslim, the Pancasila calls for a common platform for a plural and multi-cultural country. "The deliberation and implementation of bylaws should have been carried out according to the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila, and within the framework of the Unitary State of Indonesia," one of the signatories, Constant Ponggawa of the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), said Tuesday during a meeting with the House leadership to express their views. Constant said that the President should move quickly to nullify the bylaws or the state faced disintegration. Gayus Lumbuun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said the petition was aimed at creating a powerful legislative movement to reverse the drive for Islamization of the country. "We want to create a snowball effect, something that we hope will end up with the establishment of a House working committee to investigate the matter," Gayus told The Jakarta Post. Signatories met with House Deputy Speaker Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno. Aside from nationalist politicians from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the PDS, a number of Muslim politicians from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP), were present during the meeting. There were also politicians from nationalist political parties. The petition is the first cross-factional campaign to oppose the passing of Islamist-oriented regulations. Currently, 22 regencies and municipalities have implemented sharia-influenced bylaws. Some of the bylaws criminalize conduct prohibited under Islamic law, such as adultery, alcoholism and prostitution. Some of the regulations have been criticized for restricting public freedom, especially women's dress. In the West Sumatra city of Solok and the capital Padang, as well as Banten province, local governments have issued regulations obliging women to wear headscarves in public. Local administrations in Padang, Indramayu, West Java, and Maros, South Sulawesi, have gone even further in passing bylaws requiring Koran literacy among schoolchildren. Some local governments cited the granting of special autonomy to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, a strongly Islamic area, as inspiration for the drawing up of the bylaws. Earlier Monday, Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin told House Commission III on legal affairs that his ministry, in collaboration with the Home Affairs Ministry, would take action against religion-inspired bylaws. |
| Posted by:Steve |