Indonesia

In sharp contrast to many other Muslim-majority countries, women in Indonesia play a very significant role in the public sphere, even in the realm of the production of Islamic discourses. The history and experiences of Indonesian Muslim women, including their role in Islamic scholarship, and also the prolific writings of a number of Indonesian male scholars championing gender justice using Islamic arguments, is largely unknown to Muslims elsewhere.

The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women and the International Solidarity Network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) are jointly concerned about the issuance of a new regulation in the district of West Aceh, Indonesia, which strictly forbids Muslims, especially women, to wear tight clothes. The new regulation was issued on Thursday, 27 May 2010, by the Head of the district of West Aceh. Non-Muslims who reside in West Aceh or are temporarily present in West Aceh are also required to respect and to adapt to the new regulation. This new regulation makes West Aceh the first district in the country to strictly implement an ‘Islamic’ dress code and if signed by the Provincial Governor would eventually be enforced in the entire province of Aceh.

Three days after the unruly Islam Defenders Front (FPI) stormed a human rights training workshop for transgender individuals in Depok, West Java, police seem reluctant to pursue the case further, with no arrests made to date. Despite massive media reports covering the Friday attack and the presence of several police officers at the crime scene, police investigations have made little progress, despite apparent evidence of the perpetrators. “We were planning to question several witnesses today, but no one showed up,” Depok Police detectives chief Comr. Ade Rahmat Idnal said Monday. The witnesses Ade was referring to were the workshop organizers and members of FPI.

Des défenseurs des droits de l'homme ont exprimé leurs inquiétudes mardi après le rejet par la Cour constitutionnelle indonésienne d'une demande de révision de la loi antiblasphème, qui punit toute "déviance" vis-à-vis des six religions acceptées dans le pays. Après des semaines de débats, parfois houleux, la Cour a rejeté lundi la requête déposée par des groupes représentant des musulmans modérés, des religions minoritaires et des défenseurs de la laïcité.