In a quite shocking development, the Indonesian province of Aceh has passed a new law which makes adultery punishable by stoning to death. In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume argues that this might just be the start of Indonesia’s regression as a whole to Islamic Sharia based law and the dismantling of the essence of plurality that was injected into the republic’s fundamental principles, the Pancasila ideology, by its founding fathers.
(Indonesians) may soon discover that their westernmost province is merely a few steps ahead of the rest of the country along the same slippery slope toward Shariah
He contends that this news deals a blow to two widely held beliefs – one, that Indonesia, due to its long history and heritage of religious tolerance, cannot go the way of Islamic states in other parts of the world – two, that moderate Muslims have the will and means to defeat fundamentalism. Furthermore, he says,
Aceh’s swift descent toward barbarism is proof that making concessions to Islamists whets rather than sates their appetite.
Pakistan’s Swat Valley’s tryst with the Taliban after the government’s overtures to them is a case in point.
Dhume concludes,
The Spaniard who supports contraception and gay rights can flatly declare that he doesn’t care what the Bible says or what the Pope thinks. An Indonesian who says the same about the Koran and the prophet Muhammad invites charges of “Islamophobia” and threats of violence. Until this changes and Indonesian secularists begin to enjoy the same freedom to criticize religion as their counterparts in the United States, India or South Korea, they will continue to fight with one hand tied behind their back.