TEN THE POLITICS OF SHARI'ATIZATION: CENTRAL GOVERNMENTAL AND REGIONAL DISCOURSES OF SHARI'A IMPLEMENTATION IN ACEH

MOCH. NUR ICHWAN, * (2007) TEN THE POLITICS OF SHARI'ATIZATION: CENTRAL GOVERNMENTAL AND REGIONAL DISCOURSES OF SHARI'A IMPLEMENTATION IN ACEH. In: 'The Politics of Shariatization: Central Governmental and Regional Discourses of Shari'a Implementation in Aceh', in Michael Feener and Mark Cammack (eds.), Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions. Boston: Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard University Press.

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Abstract

One consequence of the greater political openness that followed the resignation of Indonesia’s long-time dictator Suharto in 1998 was the demand in several localities for implementation of Shari'a.2 The region that has experienced the greatest change is Aceh where the provincial government has been granted broad authority to establish Shari'a Courts (Mahkamah Syariah), to implement Shari'a legislation, and to have its own Shari'a police and enforcement mechanisms (wilayatul hisbah).3 The Department of Religion officially inaugurated the new system on March 4, 2003, a date chosen to coincide with the Islamic New Year (Muharram 1, 1423 AH). On that date the existing Religious Courts (Pengadilan Agama) in Aceh were transformed into Shari'a Courts and vested with new powers in the fields of Islamic belief ('aqìda), religious practice ('ibàdàt), and symbolism (Ind. syiar < Ar. shi'àr). This chapter examines the significance of the discourse on implementation of a “comprehensive Shari'a” (Syariat Islam Yang Kaffah) for Acehnese society. It will be argued that in the first years of the twenty-first century Shari'a discourse has come to serve as a “master signifier” in Aceh, and that other social signifiers, such as politics, law, education, and the economy increasingly refer to and are defined by reference to the Shari'a.4 The chapter focuses on the discourse on the establishment of Shari'a Courts and implementation of Islamic law at two levels within the government—at the level of the central government in Jakarta and at the provincial level in Aceh.5 The discourse of the religious establishment in Aceh will also be considered. The analysis will seek to go beyond official accounts of the process to grasp the power relations between central and regional governments on the one hand and between the regional government and the local religious establishment on the other. I will argue that the regional government has attempted to position itself in the middle between the central government and the religious establishment, and that this has enabled the regional government to play the two sides off against each other. Thus, instead of seeing Shari'a in Aceh purely in terms of a legal discourse, I will emphasize its political dimensions as well.

Item Type: Book Section
Subjects: Artikel Dosen
Divisions: Paper
Depositing User: Miftahul Ulum [IT Staff]
Date Deposited: 06 Jul 2015 11:43
Last Modified: 06 Jul 2015 11:46
URI: http://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/id/eprint/16228

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