Sharia Law

On television over the weekend, I just chanced upon footage of another caning of some unlucky couple in Aceh. They had obviously been apprehended for some offence, maybe furtively holding hands or worse. The two of them looked suitably humiliated but what caught my eye were the spectators with camera phones and digital cameras struggling to capture the scene. That made an ugly scene even uglier and reminded me how far religions can stray from the original intentions of their founders.

I only recently finished reading Karen Armstrong's book, "A History of God", in which she reviews the development of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For the most part, history shows Islam to have been remarkably tolerant and accommodating of other religions. From the outset, the Prophet always accepted the validity of the other two Abrahamic religions. Jews and Moslems have generally gotten along well together. The fall of Moslem Spain to Christianity marked a terrible time for the Jews.

Aceh is commonly described as the doorstep of Mecca but it's becoming more and more like the doorstep to hell. Allowing that province to implement sharia law has encouraged its creeping, incremental implementation throughout the rest of Indonesia. In Padang, proficiency in reading the Qu'ran is now a prerequisite for entry into the civil service. Here in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, women coming home from work late at night have been apprehended on suspicion of prostitution. One Irian Jaya province however, has struck back and banned women from wearing jilbabs in public.

Obviously the creeping Islamisation of Indonesia has the potential to tear the country apart which is why the principles of Pancasila needs to be revived more enthusiastically. Meanwhile, footage of the canings in Aceh are doubtless finding their way to video sharing sites like www.youtube.com and adding to the nails already in the coffin of the Indonesian tourism industry. Many Indonesians are longing for the good old days under Suharto when corruption was at least highly centralised, it was safe to venture out onto the streets at any time of the day or night, people had enough rice to eat and the Islamic fundamentalists kept a low profile. Of course, that's just nostalgia and a return to the fantasy of a father figure that will save the country.

This fondness for father figure projection extends to the concept of God. The current view of God amongst rank-and-file Moslems is that of very anthropomorphic "old man in the sky" who is watching and judging their actions. However, in "The History of God", Karen Armstrong points out that this is only a recent development within Islam and that for the majority of its history, the religion has placed far more importance on inner experience and a subjective relationship with God. Meanwhile, lock up your daughters or the Sharia police will.