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July 10, 2006
Indonesia: Muslim Mayor Bans Short Skirts In South Sulawesi
The issue of new Islamic bylaws in Indonesia has been undermining the concept of pluralism, as protected in the Constitution and upheld in the Pancasila, or "national ideology". We discussed these problems in our Special Report. Already in South Sulawesi, the Islamist bylaws insist that only those who can speak or write Arabic can work in local government, and all women in local government posts must wear full Islamic attire. This automatically excludes the local Christians from gaining work in local authorities.
Now the Islamist Mayor of Makassar in South Sulawesi has issued a new edict, effective as of June 28, in which girls in schools are told that they must not wear short skirts. Ilham Arif Siradjuddin has sent a circular to his constituents, claiming that girls must wear long skirts to "maintain decent conduct" and to avoid "inviting" sexual harassment.
He claimed he was "fed up" with how young women behaved, and said: "There are several reasons why we are obliging female students to don long skirts. One of them is to improve their morality and behavior. Therefore, we want them to wear decent clothes at school and hope that their parents support this policy at home."
Ilham Arif explained that the recommendation was practical, as female students riding on motorbikes with men "exposed their private parts."
The circular was approved eight months ago, before its recent introduction as a "recommendation".
The policy is not aimed only at Muslim institutions, but at non-Muslim schools and colleges too.
The Cendrawasih Catholic school, however, is not going to comply with the Mayor's particular obsession. Sister Marthina Tongli said that long skirts would make it hard for girls to hurry to school on time. She said that they had their own dress code, and that expected students to wear decent clothing.
She said: "We will not apply the policy because we consider that it is not urgent. There are still many other problems which need handling, like increasing the quality of education."
Maybe Ilham Arif Siradjuddin has just spent too much time looking at young girls, especially those with short skirts and riding on motorcycles......
Source: Jakarta Post.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 10, 2006 12:27 AM
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