Reading The Jakarta Post this morning, I was surprised to learn that:
Jakarta's city council during a press conference Thursday ... reported via a 23-page publication made available to the press that it had issued 10 city bylaws, including ... (one that) restricts residents from keeping alcohol in private refrigerators.
That was the first I'd heard of it and I'm sure I'll hear more about it as the month of January unfolds. I don't actually live in Jakarta but in the adjacent municipality of Tangerang whose council recently passed some public order bylaws of its own, including prohibiting women from being out on the streets alone after dark. If the Jakarta city council has actually approved such a law on alcohol in fridges, then Tangerang city council won't be far behind.
This bylaw is consistent with the creeping Islamisation of the country. The mainstream Indonesian Muslim Council (MUI) has recently issued fatwas (Islamic edicts) that outlaw the deviant Ahmadiyah sect, pluralism, secularism and liberalism. This has led conservative Moslems to attack liberal Islamic organisations and encouraged many attacks on the places of worship of the adherents of the Ahmadiyah sect.
Fortunately, there is widespread oppostion to the MUI fatwas. In the letters to the editor today, one Indonesian reader by the name of Tami Koestromo writes:
Since Prophet Muhammed was universally known for his wisdom, chivalrousness, justice and great tolerance, the members of MUI, who decidedly are not in his league and are but human, would do well to mold their behaviour and decisions upon his sterling example.
Meanwhile, the five cans of beer in my fridge will anxiously await their fate. If they don't get consumed by myself or visitors, they may well end up being confiscated by public order officials from Tangerang Council. What if I take the cans out of my refrigerator? Technically, I wouldn't then be keeping the alcohol in my refrigerator.
Of course it's that sort of smart aleck attitude that's going to get me a well-deserved, Aceh-style, public flogging before too long.
Jakarta's city council during a press conference Thursday ... reported via a 23-page publication made available to the press that it had issued 10 city bylaws, including ... (one that) restricts residents from keeping alcohol in private refrigerators.
That was the first I'd heard of it and I'm sure I'll hear more about it as the month of January unfolds. I don't actually live in Jakarta but in the adjacent municipality of Tangerang whose council recently passed some public order bylaws of its own, including prohibiting women from being out on the streets alone after dark. If the Jakarta city council has actually approved such a law on alcohol in fridges, then Tangerang city council won't be far behind.
This bylaw is consistent with the creeping Islamisation of the country. The mainstream Indonesian Muslim Council (MUI) has recently issued fatwas (Islamic edicts) that outlaw the deviant Ahmadiyah sect, pluralism, secularism and liberalism. This has led conservative Moslems to attack liberal Islamic organisations and encouraged many attacks on the places of worship of the adherents of the Ahmadiyah sect.
Fortunately, there is widespread oppostion to the MUI fatwas. In the letters to the editor today, one Indonesian reader by the name of Tami Koestromo writes:
Since Prophet Muhammed was universally known for his wisdom, chivalrousness, justice and great tolerance, the members of MUI, who decidedly are not in his league and are but human, would do well to mold their behaviour and decisions upon his sterling example.
Meanwhile, the five cans of beer in my fridge will anxiously await their fate. If they don't get consumed by myself or visitors, they may well end up being confiscated by public order officials from Tangerang Council. What if I take the cans out of my refrigerator? Technically, I wouldn't then be keeping the alcohol in my refrigerator.
Of course it's that sort of smart aleck attitude that's going to get me a well-deserved, Aceh-style, public flogging before too long.
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