More Canings in Aceh...

Being a Muslim and living in Aceh means that you live under the tenets of Sharia Law. You can either like it or leave it. Leave it means literally leaving and moving to a province that has yet to implement the Sharia code.

I am not Muslim, so as far as I can tell the law does not apply to me. This means that there is a dual standard of law enforcement in Aceh; one for Muslims and one for non-Muslims. However, Muslims do not get the option of choosing which law they wish to live under. By default as a consequence of opting for the type of regional autonomy they have, they have opted to live under Sharia Law. That is the nature of the democracy they have chosen.

This is a story of two young women eking out a living running a roadside food stall. Murni and Rukiah, 27 and 22 respectively, were caught selling cooked rice during daylight hours during Ramadan (the fasting month). This led to them being arrested, charged, convicted, and ultimately to this day where they were to be caned; three strokes and two strokes respectively.

This is what happens in Greater Aceh (Aceh Besar). So, on Friday, just after the completion of Friday prayers, Murni and Rukiah made their way solemnly to the caning platform outside the Al-Munawwarah Mosque in Jantho to receive their punishment. Interestingly, or perhaps not so interesting, is that caning is very much a bloodsport. It draws big crowds. Perhaps this says something about us as human beings that we do not mind taking time out to watch other people's sufferings. It reminds me not only of hangings in the movies about the wild west that I used to watch as a kid, but also the way that people slow down as they drive past an accident.

Selling food during Ramadan is a clear breach of the provisions of Regional Regulation (Qanun) No. 11 of 2002. The punishment for selling food attracts a maximum punishment of six lashes of the cane. There are also financial penalties and jail time if the court so decides to impose those sentences. Essentially, the Qanun says that Muslims cannot sell food to other Muslims who should be fasting.

This is problematic on a number of levels that you have to regulate the way people practice their faith with national or domestic laws. I always figured that God's law was somewhat higher than the laws of men and women. I also have a problem with men and women imposing the laws of God. Now, if God made these laws then she (or he) must be responsible for the enforcement of those laws. After all, that is the purpose of the judgment day, right? God sits in judgment of each and every one of us for the sins we have committed against her and then decides which journey we make.

If my understanding is correct, then where do men in robes sitting in supposed religious courts get off meting out the punishment of God on his fellow servants?

I would also add, if a sin was committed here it was not in the selling of the rice but in the purchasing and eating of it. The women were not committing any crime from cooking in daylight hours or even selling food in daylight hours. I wonder if the Qanun requires that Muslims selling food during Ramadan are required to ask for and see the ID cards of all people who buy food from them?

But, to finish, I return to an earlier point, the sins of men and women against their respective Gods is a sin between them and their God, particularly when it relates to selling or eating food. We are not talking about a murder or a rape or even corruption on a grand scale, we are talking about a few scoops of rice. If I am not mistaken the Koran makes some exceptions with respect to fasting, including those that cannot fast being able to make that day up somewhere else (I suspect my Muslim readers will be setting me straight on this perception).

Maybe, I just do not see caning as a meaningful deterrent in any case, just like the death penalty is no deterrent to serious crime. Or maybe I really cannot get my head around why in a country like Indonesia one would want to cane another for selling food, even during Ramadan.

Jakarta Night Life & Ramadan...

The government of Jakarta has suggested that private organizations and others (I am guessing that the government may be thinking about the track record of organizations like the Front Pembela Islam / FPI, among others) must not attack entertainment venues (bars, clubs, discos, massage parlours, and karaoke, among others) or other controversial businesses during the fasting month of Ramadan. It will be interesting to see whether these organizations heed this warning and what the government will do if they do not heed the warning.

The government has issued strict guidelines with regards to operational hours for places that are permitted to open. However, it is clear that community or other forms of vigilante justice are not the way to deal with recalcitrant entertainment venues. The police have a mandate to deal with entertainment venues who fail to comply with the prevailing laws and regulations.

The reality is that most of these organizations do not believe that the police will use their mandate to deal with those breaching not only the law, but also the sanctity of the holy month of Ramadan (at least as they see it), and therefore believe that they must assume the role of protector of the holiness of the month.

The most interesting part of this story is that the government has sent out 1,129 notices to all of the "legal" bars, clubs, massage parlours, nightclubs, and karaoke operators detailing the prevailing laws and regulations that will operate specifically for Ramadan. Why is this interesting? It had never dawned on me that there were this many legal venues in Jakarta. That said, it does not surprise me that there are, but it certainly would be one very long and drawn out bar crawl.

Generally, opening hours for the venues permitted to open will be 20.30 through to 01.30.

The rules for star-rated hotels are that they can operate regular hours. However, experience would suggest that even star-rated hotels tend to reduce operating hours and most tend to operate similar hours to other entertainment venues. Nevertheless, the big hotels and their bars, such as 30 in the Le Meridien, BATS in the Shangri La, CJ's in the Mulia Hotel, Musro in the Borobudur Hotel, and the Untitled Bar in the Marriott are all worth a shot during Ramadan. However, even these places tend to be closed on the first couple of days of Ramadan and during Idul Fitri (Eid ul-Fitr) and a few days after that.

If you are looking for a blog that details the night life of Jakarta, then I found this one: The Best Nightlife In Jakarta (the photo for this post is also from this blog).

Ramadan...

To all those friends, colleagues, and acquaintances fasting during Ramadan may the month be full of patience and spirituality.

And, may Eid ul-Fitr be a time shared with family and friends.

Blasphemy In Indonesia...

The Indonesian Criminal Code defines blasphemy in Article 156. The article is often used to control "deviant" sects and cults. Generally, deviant is any practices that do not conform to an accepted norm. Some of these sects or cults are just plain bizarre, but the more interesting part is probably that they attract followers or believers.

One such cult is the Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono or the Chosen Warriors from the Belly of the Earth. Agus Noro (aka Agus Imam Solihin) was found guilty of blasphemy by the South Jakarta District Court. The gist of the charges set out that the Noro led sermons in his underwear and required all his followers to participate in orgies. Noro had managed to gather some 35 people as followers of his faith.

However, the blasphemy charges related to his blaspheming of Islam. It seems that the biggest crime that Noro committed was to instruct his Muslim followers not to fast and pray at the times required under the tenets of the Islamic faith.

Ultimately, Noro was sentenced to two years and six months in jail. The presiding judge in the case, Judge Haryanto, said that the sentence was less than the five years demanded by public prosecutors because Noro had retracted his statement that he was the incarnation of God (or refused to accept the charge as laid out by the public prosecutors). This knowledge, or spiritual guidance, allegedly came to him in a dream. The dream or vision was provided by Indonesia's first president, Soekarno, back in 1999.

A meagre 35 followers hardly seems like a threat to the established base of Islam in Indonesia. The fact that in one of the world's largest democracies that people are still being jailed for their beliefs and the manner in which they believe in their god or gods shows that Indonesia still has some way to go. The expectation is not perfection, there are no states in the world that are perfect in this regard. However, considering the myriad of other problems afflicting Indonesia, it just seems that the resources dedicated to putting Noro in jail could be better used elsewhere.

Where the religious practices of organizing orgies and allowing minors to either participate or watch are breaches of the law, then it would have been possible to arrest, prosecute, and ultimately, jail, Noro without having to resort to the blasphemy card.

Interestingly, Noro chose to represent himself and without the assistance of counsel.

Eid and Going Home for the Holidays

Jakarta is a much quieter place during the Eid celebration that takes place at the end of the fasting month. It is a much quieter place because the vast majority of residents return back to their home villages in the days before Eid and for a week or so after.

Although Jakarta is much quieter, everywhere else suddenly gets a whole lot less quite and sees a significant spike in traffic and the associated problems.

I read in today's Kompas Newspaper (the photo is from Kompas) that the 267 km trip from Jakarta to Cirebon was taking about 19 hours to complete. For my mind that means that you really must want to go home for the holidays. Apparently, on a 'normal' day this trip would take a leisurely 6 hours. This still seems like a long time to travel less than 300 km all the same.

Entertainment and Ramadan

As is the case during every Ramadan that I have spent in Indonesia, entertainment venues go into reduced hours mode. Entertainment is not just your bars, clubs, and massage joints, but pool halls as well. Another oddity is that alcohol generally continues to be served with food and in coloured plastic cups or coffee mugs.

I went out last night and shot some pool with a good mate. We normally shoot pool in a place called "After Hours" and saw no need to change the habit, so that is where we went. Everything was pretty much as it always is, except for the drinks. The beer was not served in a beer mug, but rather it was served in a coffee mug. The beer was still ice-cold and apparently, according to the girl serving us those ice-cold beers, the coffee mug actually held slightly more beer than the regular beer mug. So, we were actually getting to drink more beer for the same price during Ramadan.

I did not take the camera [mental note -- take the camera with me everyday] so I do not have a picture. Maybe, I will shoot a few games next week and take the camera this time, get the photo of the beer-filled coffee mug, and add it to this post.

I have often wondered whether there are "entertainment venues" that continue to entertain unaffected by the holy month. I might have lived here and in Jakarta a long time but I am not knowledgeable on these things. Maybe some one will drop by who does know these things and enlighten me.

I find it interesting that the authorities clamp down on entertainment during the month of Ramadan. It is interesting because I have always understood the fasting month to be about resisting temptation, over-coming your urges, and through this struggle purifying yourself of the sins of the previous year, a cleaning of the slate if you will. The authorities seem to think that fasters need a helping hand by legislatively removing the temptation by closing places down.

Another fascinating aspect of the fasting month is that the law and order fellas ramp up the operations against prostitutes and others deemed undesirable, arrest them, and the send them off to some re-education camp to learn a trade like sewing. Surely, if prostitution is bad then it is bad all-year round, right?

For those of you that are fasting -- good luck!