The Jakarta Post, Feb 10, 2006:
Familiarity breeds content in Cianjur sharia campaign
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
West Java's Cianjur regency took a gradual approach to the introduction of
sharia, with a five-year "familiarization", or information, program for
residents.
Kussoy, the former head of the Cianjur religious affairs office who was at
the forefront of the sharia campaign, said the implementation of Islamic law
in educational, cultural and social spheres would not take the hardline
approach of another sharia area, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
"There won't be public canings and the like. We will only implement sharia
through moderate approaches in order to change the habits and lifestyle of
people in line with Islamic norms," Kussoy told The Jakarta Post recently.
Sharia, a wide-ranging system of conduct regulating many aspects of life, is
derived from the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, Islamic tradition and the
Koran.
Religious clerics in Cianjur, with Tasikmalaya one of two West Java
regencies introducing sharia, say its implementation was justified because
of the majority Muslim population.
Kussoy defined several points of the draft bylaw, now under deliberation at
the regental council, as the requirement for women to wear headscarves in
public, as well as for Muslim elementary school students to earn a
certificate attesting to their ability to write Islamic calligraphy and read
from the Koran in order to graduate to junior high.
The idea of implementing sharia emerged during a Muslim congress in Cianjur
in 2001, after the introduction of regional autonomy, when local religious
figures gave their input to Kussoy, then the religious affairs office chief.
They agreed that sharia was the best system to halt declining public morals,
but decided on taking a gradual approach to its introduction to the
regency's two million Muslims before submitting a bylaw.
"We started by asking people to perform congregational prayers and
encouraged headscarf use among Muslim women," said Kussoy, who now heads the
Cianjur Islamic Research and Development Council.
Signboards were erected along main streets in the regency capital of
Cianjur, with instructions from the Koran in the original Arabic
calligraphy, including "Do virtuous acts, stay away from wrongdoing" and
"The civilized woman is one who wears the headscarf", with their Indonesian
translation below.
Regent Wasidi Swastomo and local legislators also supported the move,
although it was agreed sharia would not apply to the area's 16,000
non-Muslims.
Despite the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law stipulating that religion is the
domain of the central government in the officially secular state, Kussoy
said sharia was not illegal because it was the public's wish.
"As long as the people are not against the law, then they have the right to
determine their own lives," he said.
Quotes :
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for
complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the
philosophy is kindness"
- Dalai Lama -
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