TASEK PAUH blogspot

Most Indonesians support the enactment of Sharia bylaws - even though they acknowledge that ordinances already in place in several districts have failed to improve social welfare, a new survey has found.

"People's welfare remains the same as it was before the sharia bylaws were enforced," said the survey.

The survey's findings were discussed in a workshop in Cisarua, Bogor, West Java, on Thursday.

Some regions have enacted sharia bylaws despite warnings that the legislation deprives women and non-Muslims of their civil rights.

In cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the research was conducted by the Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC) under Jakarta's State Islamic University in six Indonesian districts.

The districts are Bireun in Aceh, Tasikmalaya and Indramayu in West Java, Bulukumba in South Sulawesi, Bima in West Nusa Tenggara, and Tangerang in Banten province. Each had implemented sharia-inspired ordinances between August 2006 and October 2007.

A total 44.5 percent of Muslims surveyed said the bylaws did not improve the economy of regional populations, as it had been intended to. The study involved 1,000 respondents including 200 non-Muslims.

"In Bireun, the tourist sector has been drastically declining after the local authorities enforced caning punishments for adultery and alcoholism," CSRC researcher Syukran Kamil said.

Some 27.7 percent of the Bireun respondents said their economy had worsened, but 26.4 percent said their welfare had improved thanks to the Sharia bylaws.

Labels: Indonesia, Islam Liberal, Luar Negeri

Alhamdulillah. Impak jikalau keputusan sebaliknya amatlah besar. Persoalan selanjutnya, redhakan kita dan kerajaan yang berkuasa dengan kemurtadan beliau (dan yang lain-lain)? Bilakah kita mahu berhukum dengan hukum Allah?

Lina Joy loses appeal

PUTRAJAYA, May 30 - Lina Joy lost her final round of appeal when the Federal Court dismissed on Wednesday her appeal against a ruling that the National Registration Department was right not to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from her identity card.

Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Federal Court judge Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff delivered the majority decision dismissing her appeal.

Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum dissented.

On Sept 19, 2005, the Court of Appeal decided that the NRD director-general was right in refusing her application to drop her religious status from her IC on the grounds that the Syariah Court and other Islamic religious authorities did not confirm Linas renunciation of Islam. theStarOnline

Labels: Islam Liberal, Malaysia

Labels: Berita, Islam Liberal, Luar Negeri

Yudhoyono considering move amid rising public anger over issue

By Devi Asmarani, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT

The Straits Times, December 7

JAKARTA - PRESIDENT Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is considering widening a ban on polygamy after mounting public protests over the second marriage of a popular Muslim cleric.

The plan is to expand an existing restriction on polygamy for civil servants so that it will cover office holders, political appointees, legislators, soldiers and police, a minister said.

'The President has a great concern for women and he wants the public to be at peace over this issue,' State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta told reporters.

She added that the government would revise a 1990 government regulation that requires all civil servants to have the approval of their wives and bosses before taking a second wife.

The latest development comes on the heels of a confession by tele-evangelist Abdullah Gymnastiar, 44, that he has taken a second wife.

His new bride, Ms Alfarini Eridani, 37, is a former model and a single mother of three. She works for the cleric's business group in Bandung, West Java.

He has seven children with his first wife, Ms Nini Muthmaninah, who often flanks her husband on TV and at his other speaking engagements. She has said that she agreed to his second marriage.

Teh Nini, as his first wife is known, said she has 'thought about it for five years and now it has happened'.

She also said that everything was fine with her, despite having to share the house with another wife.

'It was hard for me in the beginning,' she said in a radio broadcast yesterday. 'I kept praying to God... and later found that (my husband) had no intention to hurt my feelings.'

Known affectionately as Aa (or brother) Gym, the cleric rose to fame with his simple homilies on family love. He also occasionally kisses his wife on stage.

But his polygamous marriage has angered many Indonesian women, who make up his biggest following.

The Jakarta Post reported that the crowd at his weekly weekend congregation in Bandung had dwindled, with many women conspicuously absent.

And during his broadcast talk shows, outraged listeners have expressed their disappointment. 'You have sold out your religion,' said one.

Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said the President and First Lady Kristiani's cellphones had been buzzing with messages condemning Mr Gymnastiar's polygamous marriage.

'All this uproar is because Aa Gym made thousands of people believe he was more sensible than other types who take two wives or more with little fuss,' the Jakarta Post said in its editorial yesterday.

The turbaned cleric has apologised for having hurt his followers. But he maintained that polygamy is allowed in Islam because men are by nature more inclined to do it.

'Women tend to be monogamous, that's how their 'software' is...But men, you know...their software is different,' he said.

Indeed, he said, polygamy is better than extramarital sex. But he added: 'What I did should not justify other men to do the same - I do not recommend it.'

Mr Gymnastiar, who is also a successful entrepreneur, is one of several prominent figures, including top politicians, whose polygamous marriages were recently revealed.

Polygamy is not widely accepted in Indonesia, but the country's former vice-president Hamzah Haz was the first top official to publicly reveal his marriages to three women.

Since then, other men have also revealed their own polygamous marriages. The latest to do so are legislators AM Fatwa, 67, and Anis Matta, 38.

Islamic teaching allows men to have as many as four wives, provided they are all treated equally.

But moderate and progressive Muslims have said that since it is impossible to be fully fair to all the wives, polygamy should not be practised.

Ms Musdah Mulia, who wrote the book Islam Against Polygamy, said the Quran has been misinterpreted by men for generations.

'Polygamy was a deeply rooted practice in Arabia during the time of the Prophet Muhammad,' she told The Straits Times.

'He did something radical to phase it out by limiting the number of wives they can have to four - and even the four wives he had towards the end of his life was a way to unite the surrounding tribes,' she said.

Indonesia's 1974 marriage law says that a man can take a second wife only if he has the approval of his first wife and the courts.

But he must also prove that his first wife is unable to bear a child or is disabled, or cannot fulfil her duty as a wife.

Related Articles:
Polygamy ban gets a mixed response
Beredar SMS Boikot Aa Gym

Labels: Indonesia, Islam Liberal, Ummah

• In April 2005, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched the book Fighting Corruption: My Mission written by Tunku Abdul Aziz which was published by KAF.

• On a number of occasions, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was a keynote speaker of seminars co-organized by the Malaysian Strategic Research Center and KAF.

• In December 2004, the Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein opened Malaysia’s 1st Arabic and Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition on the Golden Rule at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IIUM) which was co-organized by IIUM, KAF and Soka Gakkai Malaysia.

• In February 2005 the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim made the opening speech at the National Conference “Towards the Formation of the Interfaith Commission of Malaysia” which was supported by KAF. The Minister urged all parties to be open-minded and not be prejudiced on the proposal to set up the commission.

Labels: Islam Liberal, Malaysia, Ummah

Sisters in Islam (SIS) claims allegations made against the NGO at the Umno general assembly were “baseless and slanderous”.

The group expressed regret that delegates claimed SIS was involved in activities that undermined Islam.

“It is perplexing how any effort to speak about justice is seen as challenging Islam.

“These 'leaders' only seek to bolster support by silencing the voices of women and religious minorities,” said programme manager Norhayati Kaprawi in a statement yesterday.

“At a time when the Prime Minister is encouraging all Malaysians to be more introspective and proactive in upholding tolerance and moderation, we find the statements from the grassroots of his own party severely lacking in both these values.”

Norhayati said SIS had advocated for the right of Muslim women to sign forms for the school registration and transfer of children, application of their children's passports and consent for their children's surgery.

“When we objected to some of the discriminatory provisions in the latest amendments to the Islamic Family Law Bill last December, all women senators, including those from PAS, supported our campaign.

“How can it be that SIS 'challenges and tries to undermine the Syariah law'?”

Labels: Islam Liberal, Malaysia, Ummah

SIS and KAF under fire in UMNO general assembly- another game?

Labels: Islam Liberal, Malaysia, Ummah