A friend who was working as a journalist has an interesting story about the implementation of Islamic regional regulations (peraturan daerah/PERDA) in Bulukumba Regency in South Sulawesi Province. Having implemented the Islamic Syariah Law in the region, the municipal government changed major street names into Arabic. For example, they changed street names into the names of Allah in Arabic, which one of them is ‘Al Hakim’ (literally it means 'the Judge').
When he was walking down on Al Hakim Road, he met a street prostitute standing there. She didn’t wear a sexy outfit as probably most of prostitutes do, so she didn’t look like them. This friend talked to her and found out that she was waiting for a ‘guest’, “Do you know what ‘Al Hakim’ means?”, he asked her. The girl replied, “Sorry mate, I don’t know what it is. What I know is whenever I have guests, I always ask them to meet me on Al Hakim Road.”
The implementation of Syariah Law on the national level always ends up with controversies. The recent debate on RUU APP (anti-pornography and anti-‘pornoaksi’ draft law) is one of the examples. While it is not easy to be implemented at the national level, such laws are being issued at the provincial and regional levels.
Recently, 56 members of the national parliament raised a petition for the government to cancel all the regional laws that based on Syariah. According to Law No. 22/1999, the government has the authority to cancel all laws that are not consistent with our national and economic integrity and the constitution. In their point of view, such laws are contradictory to the spirit of the constitution and Pancasila, the national ideology that guarantees pluralism and freedom for all religions to practice their faiths.
The number of laws based on Syariah is indeed increasing. Provinces and regions that have partially or fully implemented the Syariah Laws, apart from Aceh, are West Sumatera Province, the city of Padang, Bengkulu Province, the city of Solok, Enkerang municipality, Bulukumba municipality, Indramayu municipality, Maros municipality, West Nusa Tenggara Province, Takalar municipality, Sinjai municipality, Gowa municipality, Banten Province, Tasikmalaya municipality, Cianjur municipality, and Pamekasan municipality. In addition, in Riau Province, Hisbut Tahrir Indonesia (a wahabian Islamic organisation) and United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Permbangunan) have established Preparatory Committee for the Implementation of Syariah Laws (Komite Persiapan Penegakkan Syariat Islam).
So, can we say that there’s a tendency of Indonesia is going to the right? It is hard to answer that question. If we see the 2004 election result, it clearly showed that voters were not in favour of Islamic based parties. As the table below presents, the percentage of voters voted for Islamic parties (minus the Christian based PDS) is less than 15%, while the majority of voters preferred the national-based parties (68%). Based on these figures, we can confidently conclude that Indonesia is absolutely not going to the right.
Source: Personal DatabaseThen, why are the Syariah Laws increasingly issued at the provincial and regional levels? While this question remains unanswered, my journalist friend raised his concerns. He said that the Syariah Laws implementation is nothing to do with the spirit of Islam itself, such as social justice, protection for the poor and eradication of corruption. Islam is being treated, unfortunately, as merely a political label. Provinces and regions might implement the Syariah, but corruption is still rampant and the poor is still being left behind. If so, he added, this tendency is dangerous for Islam. People might lose their sympathy for and faith in the religion because they can conclude that it doesn’t give any answers whatsoever for their daily problems.
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6 comment(s):
Bulukumba itu di Sulawesi Selatan bukan Jawa Barat.
Hai, thanks! Sorry, ngetiknya Bulukumba, yang kebayang kok Indramayu. Hehehe..
Pembagian partai menurut ideologinya sangat meyesatkan. Kalau pakai ukuran barat semua partai yang bau nasionalis per definisi harus ditempatkan di sebelah kanan. Apalagi partai2 yang terlalu banyak menggunakan istilah rakyat (seperti Musolini dan Hitler) harus ditaruh dikanan luar. Mungkin cuma partai2 yang bau sos-dem layak ditaruh dikiri tengah. Malah partai2 yang bau agama tetapi juga ada ciri sekulernya kayak PKB dan PAN lebih layak ditaruh ditengah atau kiri tengah.
Kalau lihat konfigurasi yang saya maksud, elektorat Indonesia memang cukup konservatif dan menjawab secara positif pertanyaandasar Martin Manurung.
Saya rasa, kendati PDI-P dan Golkar adalah partai nasionalis, tapi in any sense mereka bukan partai Fasis dan tidak dipimpin oleh figur seperti Musolini dan Hitler. Bila pertanyaan saya diletakkan pada konteks ke-kanan-an partai-partai berbasis agama, maka pembagian partai secara ideologis spt pada post ini tetap relevan. Partai-partai berbasis agama tidak mendapatkan proporsi votes yang mayoritas. Walaupun hal ini tidak berarti bahwa voters Indonesia tidak konservatif. Voters Indonesia mungkin saja konservatif, tapi mereka lebih cenderung pada partai yang lebih sekuler.
Indonesia , dalam era SBY-JK tendensinya sih menuju kearah sektarian . Ini dungkinkan sekali kalau SBY tidak tegas dalam menghadapi perda-perda yang bernuansa syariat islam. Anda ingat dong,pendukung SBY dalam Pilpres kemarin khan ada PKS dan partai gurem PBB.Nampaknya SBY "tersandera" oleh dua partai ini.
Lihat saja, dalam wacana pembubaran ormas anarkis. Pemerintah plin-plan khan.
Soal plin plan, menurut saya, emang udah bawaannya SBY. Kata Wimar Witoelar, 'SBY cannot decide'. Punya legitimasi besar, tapi ciut untuk ambil keputusan tegas.
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