Thread: Hijab rules and segregated pools - religion reshapes social norms in Malaysia, Indone

KUALA LUMPUR/PADANG: It was supposed to be an exciting day for Ms Jenny Hia. After six months of studying remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the teenager finally set foot at Public Vocational School Number 2 in Indonesia’s Padang City in January 2021.


She was hoping she could meet new friends, but all she got were awkward stares from schoolmates and teachers.

The Christian teenager, then 16, was the only girl in school who did not wear the hijab, a Muslim headscarf meant to conceal a woman’s hair and neck and a mandatory garment for all female students at the school.


Over the next few days, Ms Hia was summoned by various school officials about her refusal to wear the item. One teacher even brought four Christian students, all of whom had decided to comply with the public school’s regulation, to put pressure on her to do the same.


But Ms Hia remained steadfast.


“Public schools are supposed to be open to people of all religions. The way we dress should not be according to one religion. Everyone should be able to dress however they want,” she said.

The case sparked a nationwide debate so fierce, three Indonesian ministries – the ministry of education, the ministry of religion and the ministry of home affairs – issued a joint decree on Feb 3, 2021 barring schools and regional governments from requiring students and teachers to wear “attributes of a specific religion”.


But three months after it was enacted, the Indonesian Supreme Court repealed the decree amid pressure from conservative Muslim groups and the customary council of the Minangkabau people, the biggest ethnic group in West Sumatra.


Three years on, Ms Hia’s case has faded from the limelight. The Supreme Court decision meant that the requirement for all female students to wear the hijab in West Sumatra, as well as other Indonesian provinces, is here to stay.

Her case is just one example of how increasing restrictions in the name of religion are upheaving social norms and liberties in Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia.


Discrimination towards religious minorities has been on the rise in homogenous Indonesian provinces such as West Sumatra, where 97 per cent of the province’s 5.5 million inhabitants are Muslims.

“West Sumatra has become an icon of conservatism,” Mr Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of not-for-profit organisation Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, told CNA.


To woo Muslim voters, politicians and public officials have been issuing Syariah-inspired regulations and decrees as well as discriminatory policies and programmes.


In 2005, then-Padang mayor Fauzi Bahar issued a decree mandating all Muslim students in public schools wear Islamic outfits. The same decree also required non-Muslims to “adjust their outfits” to the requirement but left no further explanation.


Schools were left to decide what the provision for non-Muslim students meant. Nearly all public schools in Padang interpreted the decree as requiring all female students, regardless of their faith, to wear the hijab.


“Spaces for non-Muslims to express their non-Muslim identities have indirectly become limited,” said Mr Sudarto, the founder of West Sumatra-based interfaith group, Inter-Community Study Group (Pusaka), adding that it has been happening gradually over decades.

The problem is not unique to West Sumatra.


According to New York-based rights group, Human Rights Watch, there are at least 120 mandatory hijab regulations and decrees issued by regional governments across Indonesia. Meanwhile, there are close to 150,000 schools across Southeast Asia’s largest economy which require students to wear “attributes of a certain religion.”


Ms Hia said after the incident, her school no longer forced her or other Christian students to wear the hijab. She graduated last year.


But what happened at Padang’s Vocational School Number 2 is the exception to the norm.


Activists also warned that the school’s decision not to enforce its policy – which has never been revoked – is fragile, especially as Ms Hia’s case fades from public memory.


RISE OF THE “MORAL POLICE”


In Malaysia, policies on modest clothing, checks on unmarried couples, the closing down of 4D betting shops, and religious “moral policing” by the authorities are making Ms Siti Kasim fear for her country’s future.


The lawyer is worried that the path of “Islamisation” taken by the country’s politicians will slowly and surely change the Malaysian way of life.


Miss Siti Kasim, an outspoken critic of Islamic religious authorities, said that the imposition of religion was becoming more and more rampant in the country, used and promoted by politicians.


“The problem is these people want to enact more laws to control us. Politicians allow this religious sort of morality to be imposed on us and we have to follow them. The governments are putting these laws in place. So, it is part of political Islam,” she said.


Kelantan and Terengganu states, which have shown the strongest support for the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) for decades, have come under the microscope for some of their policies regarding social practices. Critics say they were tantamount to moral policing.


Muslims make up more than 95 per cent of the population in states such as Kelantan and Terengganu, higher than the 63.5 per cent in Malaysia.


In July 2023 for example, an owner of a salon in Kota Bharu - the capital of Kelantan - was fined RM100 (US$ 21.20) for allowing her female worker to cut the hair of a Muslim male customer.


This incident occurred a month after a non-Muslim boutique owner was issued a summons for violating the council's bylaw on "indecent clothing" by wearing shorts in her shop.


The woman was pictured wearing a baggy t-shirt that covered her shorts.


She had committed an offence under Section 34(2)(b) of the Business and Industrial Trade Bylaws 2019, which states non-Muslim business owners and non-Muslim employees must wear “decent clothes”.


After the incident made headlines, the Minister of Housing and Local Government Nga Kor Ming said that the summons was cancelled following a discussion with the local council.


These bylaws that supposedly emphasise Islamic values were enforced and implemented by the Kota Bharu Municipal Council and also prohibit advertisements that do not cover the modesty of models.


Cinemas have also been banned in Kelantan since 1990 - the year PAS won the state - with various government representatives claiming over the years that cinemas could lead to social ills.

Terengganu, meanwhile, has banned women from competing in gymnastics events because of their non-Syariah compliant outfits. Instead, several of their Muslim women gymnasts were offered places to compete in the Chinese martial arts wushu event at the 2024 Malaysia Games.


“The moral police are pushing the boundaries until they get what they want. The majority of Malays, especially the young, have been indoctrinated to a certain way of thinking,” claimed Ms Siti Kasim.


Permatang Pauh MP Muhammad Fawwaz Muhammad Jan, who is with PAS, protested alcohol being sold openly at a mall in his constituency during the Chinese New Year celebrations last year.


Over the years, other politicians from PAS and religious groups have made headlines for their statements protesting Valentine's Day and Halloween.


In 2016, then-PAS Youth chief Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz said that Muslim youths should not celebrate Valentine's Day as it went against the teachings of the Islamic religion.


Even the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) has over the years reminded Muslims not to celebrate the occasion as it is not part of Islamic culture.


More recently, Coldplay, Billie Eilish and Blackpink concerts held in Malaysia have not been spared either, with various statements by politicians saying that they would promote social ills such as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) culture.


In May last year, Mr Nasrudin Hassan - a PAS central working committee member - called for the cancellation of a Coldplay concert in a Facebook post.


“Does the government want to nurture a culture of hedonism and perversion in this country?” asked Mr Nasrudin, adding that the concert would bring no benefit to “religion, race and country”.


The Facebook post was accompanied by images of lead vocalist Chris Martin holding a rainbow flag - which is used to represent the LGBT community - during a performance.


Political Islam: Hijab rules and segregated pools - religion reshapes social norms in Malaysia, Indonesia - CNA

I’m with the coon on this one, Coldplay have had it coming to them for years, the boring bastards.

Originally Posted by misskit

“Does the government want to nurture a culture of hedonism and perversion in this country?”

Coldplay?
That's more hyperbole than one of OhHo's 'news' articles.

Christians wear headscarves. Silly girl should have met them halfway.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

headscarves. Silly girl should have met them halfway.

She did. She wore her head.

Interesting such restrictions area always for gays, girls, women, and the control only men, says it all, only in monkeylands could you have

Originally Posted by misskit

the ministry of religion

Coverings were only ordered by the filthy prophet so his wifes could not be seen pooing and peeing in the field. Most places have toilets these days

Originally Posted by britanicus123

prophet so his wifes could not be seen pooing and peeing in the field.

Well, at least they wouldn't have been menstruating.

You seem to dwell on such things to an unusual degree.