Within the next few weeks, the Acehnese parliament is scheduled to pass five draconian by-laws based on the criminal code (jinayat) in Islamic shari'ah law. These by-laws set out prison terms, fines and public lashings for gambling, alcohol consumption, tete-a-tetes of unmarried couples, pedophilia, rape, homosexual acts and adultery.

Homosexual acts, for example, carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison and public lashing. Article 24 on 'adultery' holds that “any person who has sex outside of wedlock will be subject to 100 lashings for the unmarried and be stoned to death for those married.” This part appears to be based on a draft of the criminal code debated in Acehnese parliament a few years back. While this earlier draft included the proposal to implement hand amputation for theft, it did not mention stoning. The religious foundation for stoning as a form of punishment is usually taken from the hadith (words and deeds accorded to Mohammad). The Qur’an itself does not mention stoning as a form of punishment.

Aceh is a semi-autonomous region and the only one of Indonesia's 33 provinces permitted to issue shari’ah based legislation at the parliamentary level. Since 2002, various shari'ah laws have been issued and enforced. They include a ban on gambling and the mandatory wearing of the veil for Muslim women. The central government's concession to implement shari'ah in Aceh was to prevent it from breaking away from Indonesia. Ironically, the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) did not make a connection between its original goal of independence and extending shari'ah regulations in the province. GAM's political arm is the Aceh Party, winner of the provincial elections held earlier this year. Like GAM, the Aceh Party has an unsurprisingly Islamic character but does not act on a stern shari'ah agenda.

As for now, the law has not been approved by the provincial governor. The central government in Jakarta has expressed its opposition. Critics of the stoning by-law have argued that provisional laws must not contradict national laws and the constitution. They hold that a law on stoning violated Indonesia's commitment to Human Rights as stated in the country's national law. They also hold that it violated several international legal treaties such as the UN's Anti-Torture-Convention which Indonesia signed in 1998. In the case of a violation, the minister of Home Affairs and the national parliament have the power to overturn provisional laws. The Home Affairs Ministry and the Supreme Court apparently did not see a need to reject the shari'ah by-laws when it was presented to them earlier - a required procedure for all regions wishing to endorse an ordinance. Also, among the many shari’ah inspired by-laws that have been enacted in various parts of Indonesia in recent years, so far none had been revoked on the basis that it violated the national law or the constitution. In the case of the stoning by-law, however, the government has bowed to public pressure. The Home Affairs ministry recently announced it would ask the Supreme Court to review the Islamic Criminal Code.

Supporters of the stoning by-law point to the 2006 Law on Governing Aceh, passed by the national parliament, arguing that it permitted the Acehnese parliament to implement an Islamic criminal code. These opposite views reflect the contradictions in the Indonesian jurisdiction. The controversy over the shari'ah by-laws highlights that the degree of Aceh's autonomy to issue its own laws remains unresolved.

Several commentators have depicted the shari'ah by-laws as a last-minute initiative by Islamist parties to enforce their agendas before a new parliament dominated by the Aceh Party will be inaugurated next month. While the Islamists performed poorly in the last elections, the Aceh Party won 33 of 69 parliamentary seats. The other winner of the polls was President Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, which is also non-Islamist in character. The outcome of the elections strongly suggests that the shari'ah by-laws are not wished for by a majority of the Acehnese people. In fact, the Acehnese often resent the efforts of the local shari'ah police to enforce existing shari'ah laws.

However, despite the victory of two non-Islamist parties, the shari'ah draft law got the support of seven of eight parliamentary factions in the Acehnese parliament. These are the Islamist Unity Development Party (PPP), Prosperity Justice Party (PKS), Crescent Star Party (PBB) and Star Reform (PBR) parties. But support also came from the pluralist National Mandate Party (PAN), the small Gabungan Faction and Golkar, a party that acts on a supposedly neutral religious platform. The Democrat Party did not flatly reject the by-laws (including stoning) but merely abstained from commenting in the Acehnese parliament. Some individual members, however, voiced reservations.

Golkar was one of the losers in the Aceh elections, despite its chairman Jusuf Kalla having played a pivotal role in bringing about the peace deal between GAM and the government in Jakarta. Golkar's support for the by-laws, including stoning, is ostensibly based in a fear to alienate the Acehnese population if it is seen as anti-shari'ah. In Aceh, a region with a proud Islamic character, voicing reservations against shari'ah can easily be interpreted as acting against Acehnese traditions. Golkar was the ruling party of the New Order government, which has been regarded as oppressive toward the Acehnese. It therefore faces the difficult task of regaining trust among Acehnese. But it appears that all political parties shun away from public criticism of shari'ah on the basis that it could be seen as public criticism of Islam.  Unlike in many Western countries, in Indonesia, which likes to portray its peoples as a "religious peoples", criticizing religion directly is not widely accepted and politically risky. Another possibility is that the outgoing parliament intended to leave a troublesome bequest for the upcoming legislation, setting it off a bad start.

It is at the same time unlikely that the stoning bylaw will be executed, even if it would be passed. First, Islamic law requires four witnesses catching the offender in the act. This makes it extremely difficult to prove if someone has committed adultery. Second, and more importantly, the soon-to-govern Aceh Party is unlikely to back the stoning of adulterers. It would undoubtedly irk international foreign donors who pump billions of dollars into the region, scare away badly needed investors and decapitate Aceh's fledgling tourism industry.