JAKARTA — A plan by officials in an Indonesian city to ban women from straddling motorbikes has caused a growing outcry from rights advocates who say local leaders are infringing on women’s safety and freedoms in the name of religion.
Since last week, leaflets have been circulating in Lhokseumawe, in Aceh Province, informing residents about a proposed bylaw that, with an eye to preventing immorality, would prohibit women from sitting in a straddle position or holding onto the driver while riding in the back of a motorbike.
Aceh is the only province in this Muslim-majority country ruled by strict Islamic law, or Shariah. Bylaws, enforced by a special police force, already prohibit gambling and adultery and restrict how women can dress. Penalties include public canings.
The straddling ban was first raised by the mayor of Lhokseumawe, Suaidi Yahya, in a New Year’s speech. He said that it was “improper” for women to sit with spread legs and that women should only sit sidesaddle.
“We want to save women from things that will cause them to violate Shariah law,” Mr. Suaidi explained to The Jakarta Globe following his speech. “We wish to honor women with this ban, because they are delicate creatures.”
Last week Mr. Suaidi and other local government and religious leaders announced their plan to implement the ban in coming months. Civil society organizations backing the ban have hung banners around the city that read, “Sitting in the straddle position is not our culture.”
Officials in the Indonesian Home Affairs Ministry, however, have called the proposal discriminatory.
“Laws need to be equal between men and women,” said Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, head of the ministry’s bureau of legal affairs. “Not everything is equal in the culture in Aceh, but there should be equal rights for sitting in this way.”
Government agencies responsible for monitoring rights abuses have also criticized the proposal.
“It’s discrimination, and it objectifies women,” said Destika Gilang Lestari, a coordinator at the Aceh branch of the government’s Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
Mr. Zudan said his ministry would review the proposed law if it is enacted. The government has overturned thousands of local regulations, many of which contravened national laws, since local administrations were granted the power to issue bylaws in 2001. But rights advocates say none of these have involved Shariah or gender discrimination.
On Friday, a coalition of rights advocates called on women to ignore the ban.
“We’re encouraging citizens in Lhokseumawe not to heed this call, to teach the local government a lesson in drafting fairer laws,” Affan Ramli, a spokesman for the Care for Shariah Civil Society Network, told Antara, the state news agency.
Women’s rights groups have voiced concern that if the ban takes effect, it could be replicated in other cities that look to Aceh as a model for Shariah-inspired regulations. Since Aceh started implementing Islamic law in 2002, some other localities have also adopted bans on alcohol or women appearing in public at night without a relative.
“When Aceh claims it wants to issue a bylaw because it is more Islamic, then what happens in Aceh will be copied in other places,” said Andy Yentriyani, of the government’s National Commission on Violence Against Women.
Though most of Indonesia’s 240 million people are Muslim, support for strict sharia is low. Even in Aceh many say the laws often seem symbolic and are unevenly enforced. Still, the authorities in Jakarta seldom speak out against its laws, partly out of fear of being seen as un-Islamic.
The proposed ban has created a stir on Twitter, with hundreds of posts referring to “ngangkang style,” a play on a word that means “straddle” in Indonesian but refers to the “Gangnam Style” of the Korean pop video. One Twitter user, @RebelGrrrlJkt, has posted satirical photographs suggesting extreme alternative poses.
Rights advocates are more serious. They say it is time the national government intervened to stop these kinds of regulations.
“We’re talking about using a motorbike as a mode of transportation,” said Ms. Andy. “This bylaw is basically more about controlling morality than more rational considerations, including public safety.”
“If this continues,” she added, “we will not be able to guarantee basic freedoms.”
Indonesian City Plans to Ban Women From Straddling Motorbikes
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Indonesian City Plans to Ban Women From Straddling Motorbikes
