http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574510190137468948.html
a.. NOVEMBER 2, 2009, 1:51 P.M. ET Will Aceh Dominate Indonesia? A province's embrace of stricter Shariah law is part of a worrying trend. In September, the legislature of Indonesia's semi-autonomous province of Aceh unanimously passed a law that would punish adulterers by stoning them to death. Last week, the district head of West Aceh announced a new ban on women wearing tight trousers and men wearing shorts-under penalty of having the offending garment cut up and replaced with government-issued wear. Now the question that confronts Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is whether Aceh, which adopted Sharia law in 2001 as part of efforts to broker a peace agreement, will remain a part of Indonesia. The alternative is for Indonesia to become, in effect, an extension of Aceh. The trends aren't encouraging. Despite its reputation as one of the world's most inclusive Muslim-majority democracies, Shariah-inspired bylaws have been multiplying across the country in recent years. These laws do things like restrict women from leaving the house at night or mandate that Muslims seeking marriage be able to read the Koran in Arabic. They can be unilaterally imposed by local politicians even if they don't enjoy widespread popular support. These edicts would appear to violate Indonesia's secular constitution, which guarantees "all persons the right to worship according to their own religion or belief." That makes it odd that so far, President Yudhoyono seems to have turned a blind eye. A U.S. government report noted last week that Jakarta did not make any efforts to investigate the constitutionality of these Shariah-inspired bylaws in the last year. President Yudhoyono has bowed to Islamists in other areas, too. He has banned the Ahmadiyya, a peaceful Muslim sect, from proselytizing; signed into law a restrictive antipornography bill that limits free speech; and awarded the minority, hardline Islamic Prosperous Justice Party with four cabinet seats. President Yudhoyono has been a fierce opponent of terrorism. But allowing these local bylaws to proliferate chips away at the country's secular foundation. As Indonesians look toward the future, Aceh is probably not what most of them have in mind.
