Abstract: This ethnographic study explores women's experiences of Sharia law in the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Aceh has status of special autonomy status within Indonesia and is the only province to enact Islamic law. This study shows that a matrifocal tradition, as a part of cultural descent and law (adat), can be a means of asserting agency in the experiences of Sharia law in Banda Aceh. Further, this study identifies the culturally specific, intersecting dimensions of gender, religion, ethnicity, class, age and space as crucial elements for an understanding of the experiences of women in Banda Aceh. Their structurally embedded, life-worldly ways of thinking, feeling and acting in relation to Sharia law are represented in this study in the form of a semi-fictionalized ethnography. For the sake of the anonymity and protection of the research participants, selected life-histories of women in Banda Aceh were re-combined. An emphasis on the embodied experiences of six personae brings their socially, legally and ideationally grounded agency to the fore

This book examines the life of women in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Islamic law was introduced in 1999. It outlines how women have had to face the formalisation of conservative understandings of sharia law in regulations and new state institutions over the last decade or so, how they have responded to this, forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have shaped local discourse on women’s rights, equality and status in Islam, and how these NGOs have strategised, demanded reform, and enabled Acehnese women to take active roles in influencing the processes of democratisation and Islamisation that are shaping the province. The book shows that although the formal introduction of Islamic law in Aceh has placed restrictions on women’s freedom, paradoxically it has not prevented them from engaging in public life. It argues that the democratisation of Indonesia, which allowed Islamisation to occur, continues to act as an important factor shaping Islamisation’s current trajectory; that the introduction of Islamic law has motivated women’s NGOs and other elements of civil society to become more involved in wider discussions about the future of sharia in Aceh; and that Indonesia’s recent decentralisation policy and growing local Islamism have enabled the emergence of different religious and local adat practices, which do not necessarily correspond to overall national trends.

"Aceh, alone among Indonesia's provinces, has been explicitly authorized by national law to adopt local Sharia laws. While supporters say such laws should promote social welfare and communal harmony, two such laws are being used to deny many people the right to make personal decisions central to the conduct of their lives and the expression of their faith, identity, and morals. One of the laws prohibits 'seclusion, ' whereby it is a criminal offence in certain circumstances for unmarried individuals of opposite genders to associate together. The other imposes public dress requirements on all Muslims; while the dress law is gender-neutral on its face, in practice it imposes far more onerous restrictions on women than on men. Policing Morality documents the experiences of individuals in Aceh who have been accused of violating these two laws. It demonstrates how the laws violate Indonesia's constitutional protections for basic rights as well as international human rights law. The report also documents recent cases in which the Sharia police, regular police, and private individuals have enforced the laws in an abusive fashion. The laws are applied arbitrarily and selectively, and particularly affect women, the poor, and youths. Several suspects have been beaten or tortured. Policing Morality urges Indonesian and Acehnese authorities to repeal the two laws and ensure that all local regulations in force throughout Indonesia, including those purportedly based on Islam, comply with Indonesia's human rights obligations."--Page 4 of cover.

This book examines the complex relationships between the state state implementation of Shariʿa and diverse lived realities of everyday Islam in contemporary Aceh, Indonesia.

This book examines the life of women in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Islamic law was introduced in 1999. It outlines how women have had to face the formalisation of conservative understandings of sharia law in regulations and new state institutions over the last decade or so, how they have responded to this, forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have shaped local discourse on women’s rights, equality and status in Islam, and how these NGOs have strategised, demanded reform, and enabled Acehnese women to take active roles in influencing the processes of democratisation and Islamisation that are shaping the province. The book shows that although the formal introduction of Islamic law in Aceh has placed restrictions on women’s freedom, paradoxically it has not prevented them from engaging in public life. It argues that the democratisation of Indonesia, which allowed Islamisation to occur, continues to act as an important factor shaping Islamisation’s current trajectory; that the introduction of Islamic law has motivated women’s NGOs and other elements of civil society to become more involved in wider discussions about the future of sharia in Aceh; and that Indonesia’s recent decentralisation policy and growing local Islamism have enabled the emergence of different religious and local adat practices, which do not necessarily correspond to overall national trends.