Dress Code in Aceh, Indonesia

INDONESIA  Less skin, more skirts  New dress code forces Muslim women to give up pants, jeans  Fakhrurradzie Gade, The Associated Press  MEULABOH, Indonesia — Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia’s Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts as a   regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect Thursday.  The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said   Ramli Mansur, head of the West Aceh district. Islamic police will determine whether a woman’s clothing violates the dress code.
During raids Thursday, Islamic   police caught 18 women traveling on motorbikes who were wearing traditional headscarves but also were dressed in pants. Each woman   was given a long skirt, and her pants were confiscated.
They were released from police custody after giving their identities and receiving advice from Islamic preachers.
“I am not wearing sexy outfits, but they caught me like a terrorist   only because of my jeans,” said Imma, a 40-year-old homemaker who uses only one name.
She said that wearing jeans is more comfortable   when she travels by motorbike.
Motorbikes are commonly used by both men and women in Indonesia.
Mansur said that any shopkeepers caught violating restrictions on selling short skirts and jeans would face a revocation of their business licenses.
The regulation is the latest effort to promote strict moral values in the world’s most   populous Muslim-majority nation, where most of the roughly 200 million Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith.
Rights groups say the regulation violates international treaties and the Indonesian Constitution.
Aceh, a semiautonomous region, made news last year when its provincial parliament passed Islamic law, or sharia, making adultery punishable   by stoning to death. It also has imposed prison sentences and public lashings for gays and pedophiles.
Islamic law is not enforced across the vast island nation. But bans on drinking alcohol, gambling and kissing in public, among other activities, have been enforced by conservative local governments

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