Pandora’s box: shariah law in Indonesia

by Jennie S. Bev

A declaration that existing local shariah laws can stay in place could generate more shariah laws.

In November 2007, Indonesia won the prestigious Democracy Award from the International Association of Political Consultants (IAPC) for its peaceful transition into democracy over the last nine years. It was the first time the award, whose previous recipients had been Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Ky, had ever been given to an entire nation.

The association’s award, however seems a bit hollow after Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto declared recently that the government sees no need to nullify some 600 shariah-based and -inspired bylaws passed by individual regional governments across the thousands of islands that make up the archipelago.