Indonesia: More Islamic conservatism?

Islamic oppression Indonesia | 25 August 2022

West Sumatra has passed a new law, recognizing that the customs of the province are based on Islamic law. In an unrelated development, firebrand Muslim cleric Riezieq Shihab has been released on parole.

As the South China Morning Post reported on 21 July 2022, the province of West Sumatra has passed a new law, recognizing that the customs of the province are based on Islamic law. In an unrelated development, firebrand Muslim cleric Riezieq Shihab has been released on parole, as reported by Benar News on 20 July 2022.

World Watch Research analyst Thomas Muller comments: “While the very concept of ‘customs’ is legally problematic since it lacks any clear definition, it is more important that the West Sumatra law speaks of being based on the concept of Sharia. This will make it easier to introduce local regulations in accordance with Sharia law. West Sumatra made headlines in 2021, when a secondary school in its capital Padang made wearing a hijab mandatory for all schoolgirls, independent of religion.”

Thomas Muller continues: “Riezieq Shihab is founder of the banned but still influential Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) and has spent less than half of his four-year sentence in prison. He declared in a live-streamed statement that he will continue his fight to ‘forbid evil’. His actions - and especially his sermons - will be closely monitored both by the government and religious minorities, but he will doubtless serve as an inspiration for many conservative Muslims.”