In 1999 the central government in Jakarta allowed the Provincial Government of Aceh to implement precepts of ‘syari’at Islam’, that is, Islamic law, in religious, cultural and educational matters.

The granting to Aceh of the rights to apply ‘syari’at Islam’ took place at a time when Indonesia had embarked on a democratic transition following the fall of Suharto’s authoritarian administration in 1998.

The implementation of Islamic law in Aceh discriminates against women and the poor. Many women have been publicly humiliated for failing to cover their hair with a square fabric called jilbab and for wearing trousers instead of knee-length skirts. The lack of clear legal mechanisms and corrupt public officials resulted in the discriminatory practices against women and the poor. Acehnese women, civil society activists and a number of reform-minded Muslims have protested against the way Islamic legal regulations have been enforced. However, both local and national media tell stories about how authorities such as sharia police continue to use their power to regulate matters of people’s religiosity. In January 2013, Lhokseumawe district mayor announced a plan to ban women from straddling motorcycles as it is considered un-Islamic (Saragih and Simanjuntak 2013). In North Aceh, starting in May 2013, the regent banned adult women from participating in traditional dance performances, claiming that the body movements of adult women are a form of eroticism (Pasandaran 2013). In another part of North Aceh, the Dayah community, the traditional Islamic boarding school, was checking men and women’s clothing. They cut men and women’s pants considered to be short and tight. In exchange, the Dayah community force them to wear traditional sarongs (Tribun News 2014).

These stories show that, almost ten years since it was first introduced and despite protests and critiques to the way sharia is formalized and implemented, regional authorities in the province of Aceh are still intent on the project of Islamizing the society. Still, of all the many issues that the Islamic law regulates, women’s bodies have become one of the primary targets. Some Acehnese women activists strongly resent the way Islamic law is being enforced and believe that this problem stems from, among other things, the fact that women are neither considered nor included in the process of deliberating Qanun on religious matters, which has resulted in the negligence of women’s interests.

The focus on women’s bodies and clothing is because proponents of sharia believe that much of the problem in the society is derived from the fact that many women no longer observe Islamic tradition. To the many problems that accompany the enforcement of Islamic law, proponents of sharia law, including former Head of Islamic Sharia Office, Professor Alyasa Abu-Bakar, acknowledged that there is still lots of work to be done for Islamic law to be fully implemented (interview, Banda Aceh, 6 March 2007). Thus, Aceh needs to not only learn from practices in different places but also learn lessons from Aceh’s past. The continuing debate that still lingers over the implementation of sharia law needs to be understood as a bigger project of future-oriented social transformation of Acehnese society (Feener 2013).

This chapter discusses the political background of the introduction of Islamic law and how sharia law has been enforced through the establishment of a number of institutions. It describes the debate and responses that arise among the Acehnese, in particular women, against the introduction of sharia law as it has affected their lives. This chapter also shows how the enforcement of sharia law has triggered a new conversation, in particular amongst Acehnese women, of the need to understand how Islam guarantees women’s rights. Acehnese women have begun to have more interests on issues in Islam, syari’at, women’s rights and justice, making Islam the subject of ‘public scrutiny’.