WUNRN
INDONESIA'S ACEH PROVINCE ENACTS
STRICT MUSLIM
WOMEN'S DRESS CODE LAW AGAINST
"REVEALING CLOTHING"
The traditional Muslim
state of
Acehnese sharia police officers stop a woman wearing pants at a check point in
Pasi Jambu, West Aceh,
Authorities
in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia's Aceh province have distributed 20,000
long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation
banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday.
The
long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code
during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head
of
Islamic
police will determine whether a woman's clothing violates the dress code, he
said.
During
raids Thursday, Islamic police caught 18 women traveling on motorbikes who were
wearing traditional headscarves but were also dressed in jeans. Each woman was
given a long skirt and her pants were confiscated. They were released from
police custody after giving their identities and receiving advice from Islamic
preachers.
"I
am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist only because
of my jeans," said Imma, a 40-year-old housewife who uses only one name.
She argued that wearing jeans is more comfortable when she travels by
motorbike.
Motorbikes
are commonly used by both men and women in
"The
rule applies only to Muslim residents in
He
said any shopkeepers caught violating restrictions on selling short skirts and
jeans would face a revocation of their business licenses.
No
merchants have been seen displaying jeans or tight clothing in stores in
The
regulation is the latest effort to promote strict moral values in the world's
most populous Muslim-majority nation, where most of the roughly 200 million
Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith.
It
does not set out a specific punishment for violators, but says "moral
sanctions" will be imposed by local leaders.
Mansur
said women caught violating the ban more than three times could face two weeks
in detention.
Rights
groups say the regulation violates international treaties and the Indonesian
constitution.
Aceh,
a semiautonomous region, made news last year when its provincial parliament
passed an Islamic, or Shariah, law making adultery punishable by stoning to
death. It also has imposed prison sentences and public lashings for homosexuals
and pedophiles.
Islamic
law is not enforced across the vast island nation. But bans on drinking
alcohol, gambling and kissing in public, among other activities, have been
enforced by some more conservative local governments in recent years.
Opinion
polls show that a majority of Indonesians oppose the restrictions on dress and
behavior, which are being pushed by hard-liners in the secular democracy.
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