VZCZCXRO5598
PP RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1533/01 2580742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150742Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 001533 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS, INR/EAP 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS AID 
USAID FOR ANE/EAA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI ID
SUBJECT: ACEH: IMPLICATIONS OF NEW SHARIA LAW ALLOWING STONING 
 
¶1.  (U) This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please handle 
accordingly.  This message was coordinated with Embassy Jakarta. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Summary. Provincial leaders and civil society groups in 
Aceh have voiced strong concern and the Indonesian central 
government is considering the constitutionality of a draconian 
Shariah law passed recently by the Aceh Provincial Parliament 
(DPRA). DPRA unanimously passed a local law (qanun) on Sharia 
punishments for crimes including stoning to death for adultery and 
steep prison terms and public caning for homosexual acts, rape, and 
pedophilia just two weeks before the end of the current DPRA's 
5-year term. Aceh leaders assured Consulate Medan that the more 
severe provisions - such as the stoning provision - will never be 
implemented. Elements of Sharia law have been implemented since 2001 
in Aceh but enforcement and vigor has been waning in past years. The 
new push seems to be a combination of a desire to leave a pious 
legacy on the part of the ineffective outgoing parliament and a 
political climate that brooks no room for formal political 
opposition to what is perceived as "conservative Muslim values". 
Nevertheless, chances for any implementation of measures like 
stoning are extremely low. Also, the newly elected parliament which 
will be installed in early October is more secular and could strike 
down the more odious provisions. End Summary. 
 
Putting the Law into Context 
---------------------------- 
¶3.  (SBU) Aceh local Parliament passed a Sharia law on September 14 
which would impose penalties up to stoning to death for adultery and 
steep prison terms and public caning for homosexual acts, rape, and 
pedophilia. Both the Governor and Deputy Governor have stated their 
clear opposition to the stoning provision. Without their support the 
law cannot be implemented even if it takes effect. Furthermore, 
April local elections put a new parliamentary plurality in the hands 
of the ex-GAM Aceh Party, an organization built by former combatants 
supportive and committed to secular law and focused on leveraging 
Aceh's autonomy rather than further implementing tenets of religious 
law. 
 
¶4.  (U) Indonesians, including Acehnese, continue to practice a very 
moderate for of Islam. Aceh Province contains only some 1.6 percent 
of Indonesia's total population of some 240 million. The current 
controversy over the stoning provisions in the new law should also 
be put into context of the fact that Aceh remains the only one of 
Indonesia's 33 provinces to implement Sharia law. In addition, 
trends in Aceh in recent years have seen a waning of enforcement of 
existing Sharia statutes and public discontent with the Sharia 
police. 
 
Local Concerns Expressed 
------------------------ 
¶5.  (SBU) Provincial government officials including Aceh Vice 
Governor Muhammad Nazar publicly voiced their opposition to the 
stoning clause in the law in the days leading up to the vote on 
September 14. Aceh Provincial Secretary Husni Bahri (senior civil 
servant and number three after the Vice Governor in the Provincial 
Government) publicly stated on September 11 that the Provincial 
Government has not agreed to fully endorse the measure because of 
the stoning clause. Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf is out of the 
country but made his opposition to the stoning provision clear to 
Consulate Medan on September 15. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Aceh's NGO Forum Head also expressed a desire for more 
transparency and debate before hastily passing an ill-considered law 
when contacted by Consulate Medan on September 14.  According to him 
the parliamentary leadership was less enthusiastic than the 
individual parties but political room to criticize any element of 
Sharia law is limited given the association between Sharia and 
promoting core conservative Muslim values in Aceh. Civil society had 
convened a roundtable to openly discuss the draft qanun on September 
9, but their recommendations, including ensuring the inclusion of 
protection of basic human rights, have been ignored by the DPRA. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) National human rights NGO Kontras also publicly called for 
a delay in the legalization of the laanun in a statement September 
14 statetment. Kontras also called for the involvement of Muslim 
scholars and academics in Aceh as well as legal scholars also civil 
society including women's groups. Opponents of the qanun also 
assembled outside the DPRA on Monday as the debate progressed, as 
 
JAKARTA 00001533  002 OF 003 
 
 
did supporters of the legislation. Many civil society groups have 
called the law's passage premature and called for public discussion 
on the issue noting that the 7-day period for public comments 
allowed for draft qanun had not been provided. 
 
Saving a Parliamentary Legacy? 
------------------------------ 
¶8. (SBU) The current DPRA's legacy has already seen a record of 
intransigence in working with the Provincial Government and an 
almost total lack of accountability to the public on a range of 
issues, compounded by the fact that all of the parties currently 
represented in the DPRA lost badly in elections for the local 
parliament held on April 9. This has assured that the new local 
parliament that will take its seat in early October will be 
controlled by the local ex-GAM Aceh Party (33 of 69 seats) and the 
national parties currently sitting in Banda Aceh will to a large 
extent lose their power and influence over the provincial 
legislative agenda. The current move is seen by many observers as an 
attempt to shore up a poor legislative legacy with a pious final 
act. Only President Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) voiced any 
opposition during debate on the stoning clause. PD members told 
Consulate Medan that in the end they had to go along with the vote 
since Sharia law is based on the Koran and hadith (teachings) of 
Mohammed and any opposition to the qanun would be seen as 
"unislamic". 
 
¶9. (SBU) Local Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) members in Aceh 
involved in drafting the qanun have called it "a door to repentance" 
and "a preventative step for the people of Aceh to avoid moral 
damage". PKS members also told the media the current legislation is 
a counter to foreign influences in Aceh. The international community 
has been working in Aceh for nearly 5 years on Tsunami 
reconstruction and the timing of the law being passed by the 
outgoing DPRA now for that reason is highly suspect.  Observers told 
Consulate Medan on September 15 that passing this qanun may be an 
attempt to profile the outgoing legislators as pious. 
 
Sharia Law Application Spotty and Waning 
---------------------------------------- 
¶10.  (SBU) The great irony in the current legal frenzy to pass the 
new Sharia qanun is that enforcement of Sharia law has been waning 
in the past few years. Incidents of frustration with the Sharia 
police have grown and government resources for their work have been 
restricted.  The previous presence of roadblocks checking for proper 
dress, for example, has completely disappeared as of this year. 
Public canings have become more public sport than pain-inducing 
spectacle as to the canings inflict only minor pain and public 
humiliation. Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf has repeatedly stated to 
Consulate Medan and many others that his administration is keeping 
Sharia law implementation at bay and resources limited since he 
views the inclusion of Sharia law into Aceh's autonomy as a sort of 
"poisoned apple" forced on Aceh by Jakarta without much 
consideration during the 2001 autonomy negotiations. 
 
Implications and Chances for Implementation 
------------------------------------------- 
¶11.  (SBU) Several analysts contacted by Embassy Jakarta on 
September 15 made the point that this should not be taken out of 
context or seen as an example of a growing trend in Indonesia to 
implement Sharia law across the country. In fact, our contacts told 
us that the new law would likely never be implemented as it does not 
represent the wishes of the Acehnese people. Nor does it reflect the 
ideals of the newly-elected Acehnese government, which has expressed 
its commitment to secular values. In fact, Sharia-inspired bylaws 
have been on the decline in Indonesia since 2007. We expressed 
concern on September 14 to our GOI contacts that this new bylaw 
could be seen as a win by the Islamists and a setback to secular 
democracy in Indonesia. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Contacts within the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice 
Party (PKS) in Jakarta contacted no September 15 told us that he was 
not concerned as it would be nearly impossible to implement such a 
law. "This type of law is used in Aceh as a means of placing fear in 
people to live in accordance to Islamic laws and values," he said. 
He also noted that it was time for Islamic scholars to get involved 
and work with local Acehnese leaders to discuss the correct 
interpretation of Sharia law, which is often misinterpreted, he 
said. 
 
JAKARTA 00001533  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) Although by law all qanun passed by the DRPA go into 
effect 30 days after they are passed, the chances for actual 
implementation by the state of any of the harsher provisions 
including the stoning of adulterers remains extremely remote. 
The Coordinating Ministry for Politics and Security's Desk Aceh 
(FKK) Deputy Zainal Arifin told Consulate Medan that the stoning 
provision would never be implemented. He and the head of Desk Aceh 
landed in Banda Aceh on September 15 to specifically discuss 
coordination between the local and central governments on the qanun 
and he categorically stated that the stoning provision was a no-go. 
 
 
OSIUS