https://www.benarnews.org/english/n...omen-separation-tightened-08112023103810.html
Indonesia’s religiously conservative Aceh region has forbidden men and women not related or married to one another from being together in public places or vehicles, by issuing new tightened rules for keeping the opposite sexes apart.
The new regulations, which were made public this week, are intended to reduce sinful behavior, says the government of Aceh, the only Indonesian province that practices Sharia, or Islamic law….
“Men and women who are not married or related cannot sit together in public places, secluded places or in vehicles,” one of the points in the official notice said.
Concurrently, the province’s main form of entertainment, its 24-hour coffee shops, have been ordered to limit their hours of operation, and shut at midnight.
And to ensure the new provincial rules are more convenient to follow, the mayor of the Acehnese capital Banda Aceh said he had forbidden women altogether from public areas beyond 11 p.m.
The new rules were issued to strengthen Sharia law and as an effort to reduce immorality, Aceh government spokesman Muhammad MTA said on Friday.
They are also intended “to mold a generation of people who faithfully comply with Islamic values in their daily lives,” he said.
The Aceh government’s notice does not specify whether authorities would punish anyone who violates the rules, although under the province’s Sharia, caning is the punishment for alcohol consumption, gambling, adultery, and dress-code violations.
In Banda Aceh, Mayor Amiruddin, who goes by one name, said he would deploy the Sharia Police – known as the Wilayatul Hisbah – to ensure compliance with the new rules….
Indonesia’s religiously conservative Aceh region has forbidden men and women not related or married to one another from being together in public places or vehicles, by issuing new tightened rules for keeping the opposite sexes apart.
The new regulations, which were made public this week, are intended to reduce sinful behavior, says the government of Aceh, the only Indonesian province that practices Sharia, or Islamic law….
“Men and women who are not married or related cannot sit together in public places, secluded places or in vehicles,” one of the points in the official notice said.
Concurrently, the province’s main form of entertainment, its 24-hour coffee shops, have been ordered to limit their hours of operation, and shut at midnight.
And to ensure the new provincial rules are more convenient to follow, the mayor of the Acehnese capital Banda Aceh said he had forbidden women altogether from public areas beyond 11 p.m.
The new rules were issued to strengthen Sharia law and as an effort to reduce immorality, Aceh government spokesman Muhammad MTA said on Friday.
They are also intended “to mold a generation of people who faithfully comply with Islamic values in their daily lives,” he said.
The Aceh government’s notice does not specify whether authorities would punish anyone who violates the rules, although under the province’s Sharia, caning is the punishment for alcohol consumption, gambling, adultery, and dress-code violations.
In Banda Aceh, Mayor Amiruddin, who goes by one name, said he would deploy the Sharia Police – known as the Wilayatul Hisbah – to ensure compliance with the new rules….
