There, monks march, here, Lawyers walk !

Security forces fired warning shots and tear gas into massive crowds of demonstrators in Myanmar's biggest city Wednesday, while hauling away defiant Buddhist monks into waiting trucks — the first mass arrests since protests in this military dictatorship erupted last month.

About 300 monks and activists were arrested across Yangon after braving government orders to stay home, according to an exile dissident group, and reporters saw a number of monks, who are highly revered in Myanmar, being dragged into trucks.

There are about 500,000 monks and novices in Myanmar.

When faced with a similar crisis in 1988, the government brutally suppressed a student-led democracy uprising. Soldiers shot into crowds of peaceful demonstrators, killing thousands.

Foreign governments and religious leaders have urged the junta to deal peacefully with the situation. They included the Dalai Lama and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates like Suu Kyi.

If the military responds to new protests with force, it could further isolate Myanmar from the international community. It would almost certainly put pressure on Myanmar's top economic and diplomatic supporter, China, which is eager to burnish its international image before next year's Olympics in Beijing.

If monks who are leading the protests are mistreated, that could outrage the predominantly Buddhist country, where clerics are revered. But if the junta backs down, it risks appearing weak and emboldening protesters, which could escalate the tension. There are about 500,000 monks and novices in Myanmar.

"The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom
from fear."
- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

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Mean time in Malaysia, About 800 Malaysian lawyers marched on the prime minister's office on Wednesday to demand reforms to the country's judiciary after a scandal erupted over claims of political meddling in the appointment of judges.

Lawyers in court attire of white shirts and black trousers set off in a noisy procession from the nearby Palace of Justice, an imposing new granite-and-marble court complex, and shouted "We want justice!" and "Save the judiciary!"

Riot police armed with batons and shields shadowed the march, which organisers described as the biggest protest ever staged by lawyers, as it moved towards the entrance of the prime minister's office. The building was guarded by a water cannon.

"It is a sad day for Malaysia, but a proud day for lawyers," said one demonstrator, Tan Ban Cheng, who had travelled for four hours by bus from the northern state of Penang to join the protest.

Malaysiakini reported that there were 2000 strong crowd walked A peaceful ‘Walk for Justice’ organised by the Bar Council ended with the submission of a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Department calling for the establishment of a royal commission of inquiry to stem the slide in the judiciary.

Indonesia: Non-Muslims must study Koran to marry ?

Qur'ānic exams now required in school and to get married

A provincial ordinance in West Sumatra that takes effect in 2008 requires written and oral Qur’ānic test for students from elementary to high schools. Married couples must also pass the test. Test applies to Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. Local political leader shrugs off possible concerns for non Muslim communities.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The Indonesian province of West Sumatra has adopted an ordinance to take effect in 2008 requiring all students from elementary through high schools as well as couples to be married to take a written and oral tests on the Qur'ān and this irrespective of their religion.

Guspardi Gaus, who chaired the special provincial commission that developed the ordinance, said a number of gubernatorial decrees would be necessary to implement the regulation, along with changes to school curricula, but the provincial bylaw should apply to every city and regency (district) within the next two years.

“The Mentawai Islands regency is excluded due to the majority of non-Muslims there, but if the people want it, there's no problem,” he said.

Seven out of 19 cities and regencies in West Sumatra have already issued similar regulations. Some regencies also require students to perform prayers in school.

The proposal for the Qur’ānic education ordinance came from the provincial legislature's Commission IV on Education Affairs, whose sitting members represent the National Mandate Party, the United Development Party, the Prosperous Justice Party, the Golkar Party, the Crescent Star Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

“The ordinance was implemented in response to pressure from the governor, legislators and community figures in the cities and regencies we visited,” said Guspardi.

Guspardi shrugged off suggestions that the ordinance would have negative impacts on non-Muslims.

“Islam is merciful. The more religious one is, the more beneficial he or she will be to others, including followers of other faiths. So it's not a threat, because Islam teaches people to do good amongst themselves. Qur’ānic education is aimed at giving people, especially the younger generation, good morals, so they won't be lured by drugs and other negative activities.”
(Asia News.it)

Anwar Ibrahim :"Indonesia is an example of a democratic Muslim country."

“I always mention Indonesia if one asks about which democratic muslim country exists,” said Anwar when giving a speech at Al-Azhar University of Indonesia.

In fact, should we observe it from the perspective of history, according to Anwar, Indonesia as the largest muslim country began democracy in 1955.

The uninterrupted and free general election has signaled democratization in Indonesia. “As far as I am concerned, the election in Indonesia was better than the one in Malaysia,” he said.

Anwar said that the general election in Malaysia was often followed by ghost voters. “The real voters were deceased. However, their names were on the ballots and they participated in the voting,” said Anwar.

As regards freedom of conveying opinion, Indonesia must also be imitated. “In Malaysia, people are free to speak their minds. But, they will not be free after doing so. On the contrary, people are free before and after they speak here in Indonesia,” he said.

The occurrences in Indonesia, according to Anwar, can be the answers for various declarations that the Western world has made as regards Islam. In the Western state of mind, Islam is an undemocratic and authoritarian religion with unfair and corrupt government.

“Not all of these thoughts are correct. When facing Al Gore, former US vice-president, I said that the largest Muslim country in the world accepts and enforces democracy,' said Anwar. He has placed big hope for the progress of Indonesia and its Muslim community.

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Indonesia: How Islamist Fanatics Diverted Tsunami Donations

On Boxing Day, December 26, 2004 a tsunami struck southeast Asia. People in the West were shocked by the carnage. Many Western tourists on Christmas vacation in Thailand were swept away. The images of the tsunami, captured as it surged inland by hand held video cameras, and images of the scale of its aftermath, touched the consciences of people throughout the world. Donations began to pour in to the stricken regions.

The worst affected area was the province of Aceh, on the northeastern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia. 260,000 people lost their lives, with 170,000 of these in Indonesia. Western aid workers were despatched to Banda Aceh, the coastal regency which received the full force of the giant wave.

As philanthropic work was being carried out by these relief workers, the Islamists were quick to exploit the situation to their own ends. Foremost among these were the militants of the Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders' Front. In January 2005, Hasri Husan, a leader of the group, made plain to Christian charity workers that any who attempted to "spread Christianity" would be killed. "We will chase down any Christian group that does anything beyond offering aid," he threatened, making a gesture of throat-slitting.

The Front Pembela Islam is one of the main forces which is trying to turn Indonesia's "moderate" version of Islam into a hardline sharia-controlled variety. They had 5,000 individuals in the tsunami disaster area within a month of the calamity. Other groups who came to Banda Aceh were the Islamic extremists of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Laskar Mujahideen. The latter group had been involved in fighting a sectarian religious war in Sulawesi and the Moluccas between 1998 and 2002, which killed 9,000 people, mostly Christians.

One local group took advantage of the tsunami's destruction to finally gain a semi-autonomy within Indonesia. The GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) had been fighting for thirty years for independence. 15,000 people had died in the fighting between the factions of GAM and government. In August 2005, a peace deal was signed in Finland between GAM representatives and indonesia.

By October 2000, 500,000 people still remained homeless in Aceh as a result of the tsunami, but by this time, the Islamists in the region had made steps towards implementing full sharia law.

A religious police force, called the Wilayatul Hisbah was able to control the population, exploiting religious beliefs to enact strict discipline upon the stricken survivors. Marluddin Jalil, a sharia judge, told people in the region last December that "The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh". He also said that it had brought about because women had been sinful. A year ago, he was telling housewives: "The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good."

Sharia law had officially been introduced in 2002 to Aceh - the first of Indonesia's 33 provinces to enact Islamic law. Before the tsunami, enforcement of Islamic law generally applied only to issues of family law, but with the promotion of the myth that the tsunami had come because of the region's sins, its enforcers became more draconian. The Wilyatul Hisbah made sure that women were to be kept under strict control. Women without headscarfs were hunted down, and if girls were found in cars with boyfriends, they were taken in front of the Islamic courts. If a woman is in close proximity to a man who is not a close family member or her husband, she is guilty of an Islamic crime called "khalwat". Additionally, women transgressors were paraded in public in an open car, a spectacle of shame to be jeered at by their communities.

In Lhokseumawe, 20 women had been punished in this way last December. Canings began to take place under sharia, but last year these punishments, which had previously taken place in private, became public spectacles. By March this year, 100 men and women in Aceh had been subjected to beatings.

The BBC described this month how trucks containing members of the Wilayatul Hisbah drive around, specifically looking for people to target. One woman member of this morality police said: "We just patrol around. We look for anyone not wearing proper Islamic dress, or any couples who are hanging out together without being married. We usually head down towards the beach - there's where lots of people hang out."

Even a husband and wife who are sitting in a car get a stern lecture from the Wilyatul Hisbah enforcers. The woman told the BBC: "We reminded them that in Aceh you have Sharia Law now and you're not allowed to do this even though they were actually husband and wife. This is a public place and it stirs up socially jealousy - people don't know they're husband and wife, so they're not allowed to do it."

Under sharia law, there is nothing to prevent a man sitting in close proximity with his wife. But power obviously has corrupted many within the Wilyatul Hisbah.

In theory, under Sharia Law, the law is applied to Muslims. Where there is a civil code and Sharia, a non-Muslim should be tried under the civil code, but not in Aceh.

In April this year, a minister in the Indonesian government, state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra, announced that in one district of Aceh, non-Muslims would not be allowed the option of being tried under the Indonesian civil code.

Yusril announced that a new Islamic Court would be set up in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam district. Non-Muslims who are accused of crimes like theft and adultery will have no choice but to submit to sharia by-laws. The state secretary said a two-tier legal system would create legal confusion. He said: "Should such freedom be given, non-Muslims will certainly choose to be tried under the Criminal Code, because it carries more lenient punishment."

In mid-July this year, the public beatings (carried out with a rattan or cane, which must be 1.2 meters long) took on a new dimension of spectacle, when a caning was broadcast nationally. 27-year old Saifullah Bin Ali had been caught by the Wilyatul Hisbah drinking alcohol. He was taken onto a stage, forced to kneel, and was lashed with the cane. He had been sentenced to 40 lashes, but after 7 strokes, he passed out.

Members of the WIlyatul Hisbah carry a blue book, entitled 'The Law of Islam in Aceh at a Glance.' This lists the varioous punishments for transgressing Sharia.

# Not going to the mosque for Friday prayers on three occasions: six months' jail or three strokes of the cane.

# Eating and drinking in public during the fasting month: four months' jail or two strokes of the cane.

# Consuming alcohol: 40 strokes of the cane.

# Committing an immoral act such as sex outside marriage: maximum nine strokes of the cane and minimum three strokes and/or a fine.

The Sharia law enforced in Aceh is only partial, as it does not allow for amputations or stoning to death for "zina" - illicit intercourse, such as adultery. Some Muslim clerics bemoan this lack of totalitarianism in their sharia arrangements. Mawardi Sirega, a Muslim teacher, said: "Shariat Islam in Aceh is only lipstick."

For many within Aceh, particularly women and human rights workers, the sharia system as enforced by the Wilyatul Hisbah has already gone too far from the values they enjoyed in Aceh when it was just another province in Indonesia.

The Sunday Times today reports on the situation in what has now become in the eyes of many of its inhabitants a corrupt province. And as someone who donated the contents of my penny jar (more than $50) to tsunami relief, I find it shocking to hear that the implementation of sharia by over-zealous Islamists has been funded in the main from tsunami donations.

The Times states that international aid workers and Indonesian women's organizations are shocked to find donations intended for relief have been siphoned off to subsidize a top-heavy bureaucracy and more enforcers of the Wilyatul Hisbah. According to some, there are more of the Wilyatul Hisbah than there are regular police, and many of these Islamist "enforcers" are aggressive young men.

A woman lecturer at the Ar-Raniri University in Aceh, Nurjannah Ismail, said: "Who are these sharia police? They are men who, most of the time, are trying to send the message that their position is higher than women."

In Lhokseumawe, women are to be subjected to a gender-based curfew, if current plans come to fruition. No woman will be allowed out after dark.

As a result of the activities of the Front Pembela Islam and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), several provinces and municipalities have already enforced sharia by-laws, and women caught outside after dark have been prosecuted for prostitution.

The public canings have now numbered 140 in the province. But worse may be to come. Today's Jakarta Post reports on the consternation which has greeted the new bill which has been proposed in Aceh - amputation. I cannot believe anyone gave their donations to the tsunami remotely believing that their gifts would be ear marked for this.

The "Bill on thieves" contains the following:

# Chapter 4: Anyone stealing others' belongings (that are) equal to 94 grams of gold with the intention of possession faces the threat on hand-amputation (jarimah uhud)

# Chapter 5: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to 94 grams of gold or more faces the threat of a maximum 60 canings (uqubuat ta'zir) and a minimum 20 canings or a maximum fine of Rp 60 million and a minimum Rp 20 million or a maximum ten years' imprisonment and a minimum 39-month jail sentence.

# Chapter 7: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to six but less than 46 grams of gold faces the threat of 15 canings at maximum and five caning in minimum, a maximum fine of Rp 15 million and a minimum Rp 5 million or a maximum 30 month-jail sentence and minimum ten-month jail sentence.

# Chapter 8: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to less than six grams of gold faces a maximum five canings and minimum two canings, or a maximum fine of 5 million and Rp 2 million in minimum, or a maximum ten-month jail sentence and a minimum four-month jail sentence.

There are still signs of hope for those who wished for the moderate version of Islam favored by the majority of Indonesians to thrive in Aceh. There were gubernatorial elections on Monday December 11, part of the package of reforms promised in the August 2005 peace deal negotiated between the GAM rebels and the government.

The clear victor in the elections was Irwandi Yusuf, though vote-counting has yet to be officially completed. Irwandi is a graduate in veterinary science, which he studied in Oregon. He had been in prison as a GAM fighter two years ago. After the tsunami arrived, he escaped from jail and joined other GAM representatives in Finland.

He is not impressed by the way sharia has been implemented by moral vigilantes. He says it would be better to impose sharia amputations on people who are engaged in corruption in Aceh's bureaucracy. He claimed: "If the harsh bill is imposed on corrupters it will effectively help eliminate or minimize the corruption that has contributed to the poverty of a majority of the Acehnese people."

"Sharia law was created not to get humans in trouble but to form an Islamic religious community. How can we prohibit people from stealing what they need to survive after their rights have long since been stolen. The bill will be effective only after the people's social welfare has improved."

As governor, he will be entitled to pass or prohibit bills. He has said that he will not pass such a bill. He said on Friday: "I will never agree to such a stiff bill. Common people steal because they're hungry and they usually commit such crimes because their situation forces them to do so. It is not fair to impose such a harsh sanction on the common people."

There is still an air of tension in Aceh. The international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has now left, after monitoring the elections for provincial governor. Their mandate ran out on December 15, and if the peace which has lasted so far breaks down, it will be up to the corrupt authorities in Aceh to maintain law and order. If corruption is not imposed on the poll results and Irwandi Yusuf takes up his post as governor, then the amputation bill will become vetoed. Whether he will act to draw back the powers of the vigilantes within the Wilyatul Hisbah is another issue entirely.
(Source: western resistance)


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