Indonesian district bans unwed couples from motorbike sharing - BBC News. Politicians in North Aceh, a district in Indonesia's Aceh Province, have passed a bill to ban unmarried couples from riding a motorcycle together.
Lawmakers say that couples sharing bikes could be tempted to commit "sinful acts". Aceh is the only province that is allowed to practice Sharia law and has passed a series of Islamic measures. The rule comes into effect next year, along with requirements for schools to teach girls and boys separately. There has been a mixed response from Indonesians. Some approve, whilst others argue that it is unconstitutional. In addition, some riders are concerned with the practicalities of the move, questioning whether couples would be required to carry a marriage certificate and a driver's license. Authorities say that the current etiquette violates Islamic law. "Unmarried people sitting closely together on a motorcycle is clearly against Islamic Sharia as it could lead to sinful acts," politician Fauzan Hamzah told the AFP news agency. Aceh Reports Fewer Abuse Cases by Islamic Police in 2013.
Acehnese people are seen at the Baiturrahman mosque, the largest mosque in Banda Aceh, on Nov. 1, 2013.
(EPA Photo/Hotli Simanjuntak) Banda Aceh. A rights group on Sunday reported a significant drop in the number of abuse-of-power cases in 2013 involving religious police officers enforcing shariah-inspired bylaws in Aceh. The Aceh office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said there were only five cases involving members of Aceh’s shariah police last year, compared with 50 cases in 2012 and 47 cases in 2011. “Members of the Wilayatul Hisbah (Wi-Ha), or shariah police, engaged in raids to apprehend violators of Islamic shariah, but those [raids] didn’t trigger as many cases of violence as in the previous years,” Destika Gilang Lestari, the coordinator of Kontras Aceh, said on Sunday. Islamic city council bans female flatulence in Indonesia. An Islamic city council in the Indonesian province of Aceh, which follows Sharia, has banned female citizens from passing gas.
Sayyid Yahia, mayor of the city, told media that a ban was needed, as farting does not go well with the Islamic values of modesty. “Muslim women are not allowed to fart with sound, it’s against Islamic teachings,” he said. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Feminists Association told local media they will attempt to block the smelly law as they deem it discriminatory. Talking to The Wadiyan, mayor Sayyid Yahia said the law aims to save people’s morals and behaviors. “When you see woman fart loud, she appears like a man. Although the proposed law does not ban “quiet fart,” passing gas with sound is actually not uncommon in Southeast Asia, particularly for women consuming potatoes and peas.
Jail for 7 Linked to Terror Group in Indonesia's Aceh. Mohd Adhe Bhakti Seven men found guilty of involvement with an outlawed armed terror group were sentenced to between five and eight years in jail by the West Jakarta District Court on Monday.
The men were charged in three separate cases related to the group’s activities, including clandestine paramilitary training and public acts of terrorism. Defendant Abu Musa a.k.a. Heri Budiman received the lightest sentence, five years, for his role in delivering money from Rochman Abdurrahman to group mastermind Dulmatin. Rochman was sentenced to nine years in jail last week, while Dulmatin had long topped the police’s most wanted list when he was shot dead during a police raid in March. In the second case, four other defendants — Syailendra Sapta Adi, Zainal Mutaqim, Sunakim and Heru Lianto — were each sentenced to seven years in jail by the same presiding judge, Mirdin Alamsyah.
Aceh: From insurgency to administration. Aaron Connelly is a Fulbright Scholar and visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta. He also writes at Jakartica. He visited Banda Aceh for The Interpreter. Hasbi Abdullah (pictured) exudes energy and authority. Now chairman of the Acehnese provincial legislature, it is not hard to imagine Hasbi as he was during the insurgency: lecturer in economics by day, clandestine supporter of the outlawed Free Aceh Movement (GAM) by night. Hasbi has now made the transition, along with many of his former comrades from the GAM, to the political process.
Sitting behind his desk in the legislative building, Hasbi tells me he was finishing up work on his doctoral degree at a university in Bandung, on Java, when he was asked to run for deputy governor in 2006. Aceh: Two views. Aaron L.
Connelly is a Fulbright Scholar and visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. He also writes at Jakartica. He is currently in Banda Aceh reporting for The Interpreter. The local newspaper of record here, Serambi, told a story of two provinces with its front page on Saturday. Above the fold, the paper continued to carry the tale of American missionaries who had been run out of the area by the West Aceh district government three days prior.
The two-inch headlines and accompanying copy documented in breathless detail the rather spectacular accusations made by three local residents that they had been put under hypnosis by the missionaries prior to accepting the Christian faith.