Postscript

After the completion of my fieldwork in mid-2009, significant developments took place in Aceh.

On 14 September 2009, just months before members of the DPRA (the local legislature) for the period of 2004–2009 ended their tenure, 69 local MPs from eight factions unanimously passed a Qanun on Criminal Law (Rancangan Qanun Jinayat) and Qanun on Sharia Criminal Procedure (Rancangan Qanun Acara Jinayat), both drafted in 2007.

Although the Qanun on Criminal Law has been passed by the local legislature, the Governor of Aceh at that time, Irwandi Jusuf, refused to sign the bill because of the controversial death penalty it authorizes (Liputat6, 28 October 2009).

Supporters of sharia law criticized the governor for showing little commitment to the ‘total implementation’ of Islamic law (pemberlakuan Syariat secara kaffah) by refusing to sign and pass it into a Qanun. This development has raised concerns about the possible clash between the proponents of the new Qanun (such as the activists from KAMMI (Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Muslim Indonesia, or the Indonesian Student Action Muslim Union) and the Prosperous Justice Party) and its opponents among human rights and women’s rights activists (Rahmad 2009). There has been an attempt to bring the bill to the Supreme Court for review to determine whether it is in breach of national legislation, with the Aceh Coalition of NGOs for Human Rights stating its willingness to apply to the Supreme Court if the newly-elected legislature of Aceh continues to support the passing of the Qanun (The Jakarta Post 2009). Until he finished his term in April 2013, the governor did not change his mind.

Salim (2009) reveals doubts about the future of the implementation of Islamic law in Aceh, especially in relation to the application of the Qanun Jinayah, first, because of the reluctance of Governor Irwandi to sign the draft Qanun on Criminal Law, and, second, because of the poor support the Ulama Consultative Assembly of Aceh (MPU) has shown for the bill. Salim argues that this lack of support from the MPU is because it is currently dealing with significant internal problems.

Salim also mentions that after eight years of implementation, the jurisdiction of the sharia courts still overlaps with other jurisdictions, including those of customary law and civil court. All of these developments potentially hold back the implementation of Islamic law, Salim argues.

Despite these developments, civil society in Aceh, and, in particular women activists, are concerned about the future of women’s rights and gender equality. The institutionalization of sharia may have weakened at the formal level, but Acehnese society continues to experience an Islamic resurgence, which often targets women. For example, in October 2009, the Mayor of West Aceh district announced that starting from 1 January 2010, women in West Aceh were forbidden to wear trousers (Serambi Indonesia 2009). The West Aceh district administration has since prepared 7,000 skirts to be distributed to women in Western Aceh.

The election of former GAM leader Zaini Abdullah and Muzakkir Manaf, in the 2013 election, gives new hope since both leaders do not set total implementation of sharia as their priority. In December 2013, the local parliament and the governor approved the Qanun on Sharia based Criminal Procedure or Qanun Acara Jinayat, which becomes Qanun No.

Many believe that the future of Islamic law in Aceh depends very much on who gets elected to the local parliament. During my last visit to Banda Aceh in 2009, just a few days before the national presidential election, local women activists shared their concerns at the result of the legislative election. Partai Aceh, the new political vehicle of GAM,¹ won 33 seats out of 69, with only one of them held by a woman. It is now the strongest party in the local parliament. Some Acehnese activists consider GAM very patriarchal and conservative. They refer to the very small number of women that the party nominated in the general election. Some Acehnese men and women activists also speak of incidents in the past where followers of GAM intimidated Acehnese women. As mentioned in Chapter 5, one informant recalled that in the early phase of the introduction of Islamic law, GAM members actively conducted ‘jilbab raids’ (razia jilbab) in many places. Similarly, Bowen (2003, 232) has observed that in Gayo highlands in Central Aceh, GAM declared that all women must wear jilbab when outside of their houses, and mentions incidents in 1999 when girls had their hair cut for not wearing jilbab.

On the other hand, previous studies have argued that Islam has never been the platform of the GAM’s leadership, that GAM’s struggle for Aceh’s independence is not driven by the idea of creating an Islamic state, and that it did not base its struggle on Islam. The former Governor of Aceh, Irwandi Jusuf, a former senior advisor to GAM, clearly showed his position towards the Islamic law with his reluctance to support the ‘total implementation’ of Islamic law, when he refused to sign the new Jinayah Qanun.

Another interesting development can also be seen in the result of the presidential election in July 2009. Almost 96 per cent of Acehnese voted for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general who once declared martial law in Aceh in 2003. He defeated Jusuf Kalla, who, by contrast, had played a crucial role in bringing the two warring parties to peace talks in January 2005 and signed the peace agreement in August 2005 (Aspinall 2006; Tempo Online 2009). This result was quite surprising, given that some political pundits predicted that Jusuf Kalla could win the majority of votes of Acehnese, not only because of his role in peace talks, but also because he was seen having more appeal to Islamic voters. During the campaign, the issue of his wife’s veiling was used to generate support from Islamic voters. The result of the presidential election can thus be seen as supporting the notion that Islam is no longer so important an element in Aceh’s politics.²

These political developments will definitely affect the institutional capacity of the local government structures whose role is central in the implementation of Islamic law, such as the Wilayatul Hisbah (WH). As discussed in Chapter 2, the WH faced problems at its initial establishment, including limited resources and restricted areas of authority.

WH officials also feel that the local government has not seriously supported the WH in implementing its obligations. In Banda Aceh, the WH now has 60 officers, including 14 women. They work 24 hours, seven days a week in two shifts. Women officers, however, work only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and their numbers are small. Because no women personnel are tasked to work in a night shift, the male personnel have to deal with cases that involve women and this has caused serious problems. On 8 January 2010, for example, Acehnese were shocked to hear that three WH Officers in Langsa district had raped a female student who was caught violating Qanun No. 14/2003 on Khalwat. The incident took place at night, after she and her partner were detained and placed in different rooms at the WH Langsa district office (Tempo, 19 January 2010). Therefore, it would be better if women officers are tasked to deal with women perpetrators so that they can be protected by WH women officers. But when I asked the WH officer why the female personnel are not assigned the night shift, he replied that Acehnese still find it hard to accept women working at night with male colleagues.

Another issue resented by many WH officials is that there are many WH members who have not yet been promoted to be government officials or Pegawai Negeri Sipil (PNS) and remain casual employees. Sadly, all the 14 female personnel are still employed casually, even though they possess undergraduate degrees from either the Sharia Faculty of the IAIN AR-Raniry, or from the Faculty of Law at Syiah Kuala University. For example the leader of the female personnel, who has worked for five years, is yet to be promoted to be a PNS. To this welfare issue, the field commander said ‘For me, it is not hard to understand local government’s commitment to implementation of Islamic law, just look at how they treat us’. By saying this, he was implying that to him the local government of Aceh is not really interested in supporting ‘a total implementation’ of Islamic law as mandated in the LOGA.

All these developments lead women activists to believe that promoting women’s roles in public life and asserting women’s rights will not be without obstacles. In fact, they believe that the struggle for Acehnese women activists to advance women’s status and gender equality is becoming more difficult. This is because despite the recent efforts made by women activists in promoting gender awareness in their programmes from village to city in Aceh, the numbers of votes that women give to women candidates remain very low. This means that women’s representation in the local legislature remains very low too. Women activists therefore predict that they will need to continue their struggle to promote just and non-gender biased policies for the foreseeable future. The struggle for equality will also require women activists to change social attitudes in regards to women’s leadership and women’s public roles more broadly. Women activists believe that the role of the religious authorities in changing this attitude remains important, and that they therefore need to continue working with religious communities in Aceh.

Notes

1 Aspinall (2009, 8) discussed at great length the transformation of GAM into a peaceful political movement. GAM is now known by Acehnese as KPA (Komite Peralihan Aceh or the Aceh Transitional Committee), a committee responsible for accommodating former GAM combatants.

2 In the 2009 national general election, the Democratic Party, which is the political vehicle of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a nationally based political party, won 12.73 per cent of the votes in Aceh. This put the party in second place after Partai Aceh, the local political party founded by GAM in 2007, which won 43.40 per cent. Meanwhile, the Golkar Party, the party led by Jusuf Kalla, achieved only fourth position, with just 4.86 per cent (Hilman 2010). This was quite shocking for Golkar as in 2004 it was the majority in the local parliament with 128 seats, while the Democratic Party then occupied just 55 seats.

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