The new
recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender, an unmarried
woman caught in a hotel room with a man.
Such
behavior constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world’s
biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law, known as Shariah.
Those found guilty of breaches are often publicly whipped with a rattan cane.
But despite
her reticence, she persevered and delivered her first flogging.
“I think
she did a good job. Her technique was nice,” said Banda Aceh Shariah police
chief investigator Zakwan, who uses one name.
The
punishment enrages rights activists and generates heated debate in the media
debate, as well as among politicians.
Unlike the
rest of the nation, Aceh follows religious law as part of a 2005 autonomy deal
with the central government that ended a decadeslong separatist insurgency.
Here,
public whipping remains a common punishment for scores of offenders for a range
of charges including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol and having gay or
premarital sex.
But the job
has always been done by men. Until now.
More and
more women are being charged for morality crimes such as public affection or
premarital sex, experts say, as greater internet access and globalization bring
clashes with local cultural and religious norms.
Enforcement
too has increased, and now Aceh says it is trying to follow Islamic law, which
calls for women to whip female perpetrators. This is already what happens in
neighboring Malaysia
But
convincing women to participate has been no easy task, and it has taken years
to assemble the first female squad, according to Safriadi, who heads the
Shariah Implementation Unit in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Eight women
— all Shariah officers — agreed to be floggers and were trained in the
appropriate technique and advised how to limit injury.
Previously,
a dozen men performed all the whippings in the city for an unspecified fee.
For
security reasons, Aceh officials declined to let a reporter speak with the
floggers, who are outfitted in cloth masks and loose brown uniforms to hide
their identities.
“We train
them to make sure they’re physically fit and teach them how to do a proper
whipping,” Zakwan said.
But the
secret for any whipping is getting past the mental hurdle of lashing fellow
citizens.
For that,
you need to look to God, Zakwan said. “It’s kind of an indoctrination that we
give to them so they have a better understanding of their role — have no mercy
for those who violate God’s law,” he added.
Aceh
officials insist caning deters crime, with patrols often scouring public places
and establishments — or acting on tipoffs — to monitor behavior.
Shariah
police in Banda Aceh, a city of some 220,000 people, are on the streets around
the clock in three shifts.
On a recent
patrol, a couple sitting close to each other on the beach escaped with a
reprimand. But a group of men and women spotted at a coffee shop around 3 a.m.
weren’t so lucky and were arrested on suspicion of breaking strict codes about
unmarried men and women interacting.
“This shows
that we never sleep looking for violations of Shariah,” Safriadi said.
From behind
bars, one of the men said that there was nothing romantic happening at the
coffee shop.
“We don’t
even know the women and were sitting at different tables,” he said.
The women
were later released with a reprimand, as were the men, but police said the trio
may be charged for a new offense, after it was determined they were gay.
Same-sex
relations can earn residents a whipping in front of jeering crowds, which can
number in the hundreds.
“Shariah in
Aceh is still lenient,” said resident Saiful Tengkuh.
“Aceh needs
harsher punishments like stoning, not just whipping. Someone committing
adultery should be stoned 100 times,” he added.
Aceh, home
to about 5 million people, once mulled beheading for serious crimes, but the
central government ruled it out.
This
summer, it made headlines over a fatwa, or religious edict, against online game
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and opposing a national women’s football league
because it didn’t have a stadium where only female players, match officials and
spectators would be present.
But
whipping is often what gets Aceh in the news — unwanted attention local
officials say is Islamophobic.
Advocates
say many people caught breaking religious law choose whipping as an efficient,
if painful, way to avoid a stiff jail term.
But this
rough justice can take a toll.
Floggings
can be so severe that people pass out or are hospitalized, with the most
serious crimes — including gay sex and having a relations with a minor —
earning as many as 150 lashes.
Many
offenders have fled the area out of shame or because customers deserted their
businesses. Few are keen to discuss their experience.
For women,
arrest for even a minor violation can lead to victimization, including sexual
harassment and rape during arrest, according to research by the Network for
Civil Society Concerned with Shariah.
Reporting
these assaults without proof can even open up victims to flogging for making a
false accusation, it added.
Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International have condemned such punishments as
“barbaric,” “inhumane,” and tantamount to torture.
But Aceh
officials insist they’re “far more lenient” than ultraconservative Saudi Arabia
“We’re not
aiming to hurt people by whipping them,” Safriadi said.
“The most
important thing is the shaming effect on violators and spectators so they don’t
do it again.”
(Courtesy:
The JapanTimes)