http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-couples-caned-over-extramarital-affairs/434272
The first pair, Sudirman, 43, and Irdayanti, 34, each received nine lashes of the cane by the Wilayatul Hisbah, or Shariah Police, for committing adultery. Both are married to other people, though Irdayanti is in the process of divorcing her husband.
A crowd of 200 people gathered outside the Al Munawwarah Mosque in Jantho, Aceh Besar district, to watch the caning shortly after noon prayers.
Sudirman and Irdayanti had been sentenced to the punishment the previous day by the Jantho Shariah Court. Prosecutor Bendry Almy said both were guilty of khalwat, or “close proximity,” under a 2003 Shariah bylaw that carries a maximum punishment of nine strokes of the cane and a minimum of three.
“In their case, the harshest penalty was handed down because both were married at the time they committed the crime,” he said.
Sudirman and Irdayanti were caught together in the latterÂ’s bedroom on Jan. 1 by neighbors. It remains unclear what they were doing.
“Irdayanti was known to frequently invite men into her home,” said Teungku Syarifuddin, deputy commander of the provincial Shariah Police.
“That got the neighbors all riled up, so that night they busted into the house.”
Interestingly, it was two couples, male and female, who were caned. I wonder why only one of the women was reported on in the Western press?
From this story, it appears that the woman fainted following the caning, and was taken to the local hospital as a precaution. In other stories I've seen on the web, she was
"beaten nearly to death." By nine stokes of the cane? Some cane.
The 'comments' section reveals a lot of comment against the caning; some with the suggestion that such couples
'move to Jakarta where no one cares' and so on.
One commenter, apparently noting the irony, while still supporting the general concept of Sharia Law and caning, said this:
Perhaps this report is abbreviated, I have some issues with it. The main issue is on the strict standard of proof required in Islam for major offences such as adultery. While punishment for adultery once proven in Islam may seem harsh or even barbaric (whatever that means), the legal procedural requirements to prove adultery are very exacting. The act must be clearly and personally witnessed by four (repeat four) "sane" and "just" adult males. So had there been four witnesses, four diffferent male adults, of probity and sound mind, for each of the punished cases in Acheh?
As to the crowd who shouted and asked for more lashes, it reminds me of an incident in the Gospel of John when they brought a woman accused of adultery before Jesus. They reminded Jesus that adultery was punishable by stoning under the Torah. Jesus thought for a moment and then replied, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her".
Now, let's talk for a moment about Sharia Law in Indonesia (where this caning took place).
Caning, and Sharia Law, is against the Constitution of Indonesia; with one exception. In 2001, Aceh, a small province that had been rebelling against the government of Indonesia, struck a deal; they were allowed to implement Sharia Law within Aceh, as long as they remained part of Indonesia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceh
Aceh was the area devastated by the most recent but one Tsunami:
The ramifications of the tsunami went beyond the immediate impact to the lives and infrastructure of the Acehnese living on the coast. Since the disaster, the Acehnese rebel movement GAM, which had been fighting for independence against the Indonesian authorities for 29 years, has signed a peace deal (August 15, 2005). The perception that the tsunami was punishment for insufficient piety in this proudly Muslim province is partly behind the increased emphasis on the importance of religion post-tsunami. This has been most obvious in the increased implementation of
Sharia law, including the introduction of the controversial 'WH' or Syariah police. As homes are being built and people's basic needs are met, the people are also looking to improve the quality of
education, increase tourism, and develop responsible, sustainable industry. Well-qualified educators are in high demand in Aceh.
It may be noted that the European Union was instrumental in negotiating a peace between Aceh and Indonesia, which resulting in the implementation of the Sharia Police in Aceh, with Europe's blessing.
Aceh is approximately 4 million people. Mostly Muslim, and mostly devout. Apparently, though, the Sharia Police are not that widely appreciated, even there:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8491195.stm
Nindy, 18, has come to watch the game with her female friends, but, unlike the other girls, she stands out because she does not wear the traditional Muslim headscarf.
She refuses to comply with the Sharia police's rules.
Outside the auditorium, I ask her why she is willing to take this risk in deeply Muslim Aceh.
"I know that people here are pious and they really love their religion. I just never thought it was going to be this fundamentalist," she says, playing with the tassels on her shawl.
"Aceh's changed a lot. It doesn't mean I'm not a good Muslim if I don't wear this - my headscarf. It's my right to live the way I want to."
Sharia law is not new to them or to the people of Aceh - it was brought in in 2002 - but it is now being enforced far more strictly than ever before.
People in Aceh are some of the most devoutly Muslim in Indonesia, but many here feel you can be both Muslim and modern as well.
Of course, this will be taken to mean that I support caning of adulterers, which of course I do not, or of defending Sharia Law, which of course I also do not.
I will point out that in Singapore, people are caned for vandalism; it's just not a religious law; it's part of their criminal code.
And the part about the neighbors of the 'adulterers' busting into to their homes and dragging them to the local police reminds me of nothing as much as it does the neighbors who used to bust into the homes of mixed-race couples and drag them out into the streets in the US South only a few short decades ago. It was wrong then, it's wrong now; that goes without saying.
But just as the people in the Deep South who felt that race-mixing should be a crime, and most Americans disagreed but were not up in arms about it in other states, so too it would appear that only a very few enclaves of fundamentalist Muslim areas have such strong Sharia laws, and while most Muslims are against it, they're not invading Aceh in protest over what happens there.
However, as usual, the Muslim-haters are going to draw their own conclusions and claim it as factual.
