Posted on 08/01/2006 5:37:50 PM PDT by neverdem
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia Across this most religious of Indonesias provinces, brown uniformed policemen in black wagons enforce Shariah, or Islamic law. They haul unmarried couples into precincts and arrest people for drinking or gambling. Increasingly, many of the cases are pushed to the ultimate conclusion, public canings at mosques in front of pumped-up crowds.
In mid-July, a 27-year-old man sentenced to 40 lashes fainted on the seventh stroke of a rattan cane from a hooded man in the yard of a mosque here in the provincial capital.
The caning was televised nationally, with an announcer reporting that the man, who had been arrested for drinking at a beachside stall, would receive the remainder of his punishment once he had recovered.
Battered by the Asian tsunami 19 months ago, Aceh is undergoing a profound transformation that is likely to have considerable impact on the nature of Islam in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country.
For centuries Indonesia has been known for the open-minded, sometimes freewheeling, interpretation of its dominant religion. That is changing as moderate Muslims find themselves under siege from more orthodox proponents, and as the moderates are hesitant to push back.
Aceh, where Islam has always been more rigorously observed, is the first of Indonesias 33 provinces to put Shariah law onto the books. Special Shariah courts established to mete out punishments have been operating for a year.
Now, some of Indonesias other provincial governments are looking to Aceh as a model for how they might more formalize Shariah laws already on the books. More than a score of townships across Indonesia have introduced Shariah-like laws that fall short of the precision of the religious laws here.
The 1945 Indonesian Constitution is generally considered a secular document. But in a signal of the current mood in Indonesia, leading...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Timur Angin/Imaji, for The New York Times
A woman in Aceh being questioned by policemen who enforce Shariah, or Islamic law, which is also being adopted elsewhere in Indonesia.
You let them in -- you live with it. Fools.
Buh-bye billions in tourist dollars! Another tsunami? Get your muzzies to fix it, morons.
Oh, well! Who the heck would want to visit a place where you might be punished for social drink and you're not even a local?!
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.
Ditto that, t.
So the rags not only use these minaret-adorned JDAM targets for preaching and planning murder and destruction, but actively practice them there, too.
How convenient.
Friggin' lobotomists' cult...
The United States lived with Jews since it's inception and the Jews assimilated into our culture, became American.
Muslims on the other hand will never assimilate into the American culture, their religion will not allow it. There is an assault on Christmas and other religious holidays in our country. The assault started with the Muslim voice being heard and Muslims total assault on Christianity in our country.
Liberals total hatred of President Bush will allow the destruction of the United States regardless of reality by their refusal to allow the President to fight the war on terror and the refusal to back Israel in their war on terror.
Sharia police=the real thought police.
Not me, t. No way, no how. Caning isn't my favorite mode of 'social correction'.
Interesting. The little appreciated secrete is that much of Indonesia's businesses are really in Chinese (Buddist) ethinicity hands (while the government/politicians are all local Islamic). They have so far survived together not treading too much on each other's turf and recognizing their places.
That will all change with Sharia Law. They need the Chinese and must tolerate Buddaism (not to mention all that goes into entertaining/cultivating Japaenese businessmen) or they can forget having an economy.
BTW the Chinese ethinicity connection with money and business in Indonesia was important in other arenas. That was the reason Clinton's money for secrete sugar daddy Rialdi was an Indonesian businessman but the money flow was to China.
"...they can forget having an economy."
Economy? They don't need no stinking economy. It's all abut SUMISSION, the less people have, the better they submit. This is the dream of Islamofacists, and their dream is spreading apace.
Bye, bye Banda Aceh!
"This is the dream of Islamofacists, and their dream is spreading apace."
There are quite a few apologists on this forum that are helping with that....
"I'm afraid Jews are the source of the assault on Christmas and Christian symbols."
I'd think the atheists of the Left are far more vocal on the matter.
Thank you for your post. I have never heard of a religous Jew having a problem with religous displays. I even have several friends who are Jewish that are on my Christmas present list. I'm on their list of people that they celebrate haunakah with.
A lot of the businessmen on Malaysia and Indonesia have local Muslim names and perhaps even a local ancestor or two, but at home they speak Chinese, drink alcohol, and practice Buddhism if anything. They are Chinese through and through, and stay in touch with the old home village back in Fujian. I think Riady was one of these.
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