Western officials including Colin Powell explained that the tsunami relief was supposed to win Muslim hearts and minds. And it's doing so -- one lashing at a time. "Tsunami survivors given the lash," by Michael Sheridan and Dewi Loveard in the TimesOnline, with thanks to all who sent this in:
WHEN people around the world sent millions of pounds to help the stricken Indonesian province of Aceh after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, few could have imagined that their money would end up subsidising the lashing of women in public.But militant Islamists have since imposed sharia law in Aceh and have cornered Indonesian government funds to organise a moral vigilante force that harasses women and stages frequent displays of humiliation and state-sanctioned violence.
International aid workers and Indonesian women’s organisations are now expressing dismay that the flow of foreign cash for reconstruction has allowed the government to spend scarce money on a new bureaucracy and religious police to enforce puritan laws, such as the compulsory wearing of headscarves.
Some say there are more “sharia police” than regular police on the local government payroll and that many of them are aggressive young men.
“Who are these sharia police?” demanded Nurjannah Ismail, a lecturer at Aceh’s Ar-Raniri University. “They are men who, most of the time, are trying to send the message that their position is higher than women.”
In one town, Lhokseumawe, the authorities are even planning to impose a curfew on women — a move that social workers warn will force tsunami widows to quit night-time jobs as food sellers or waitresses and could drive them into prostitution.
Read it all.
is it surprising that disaster aid money would be diverted by an Islamic government , they tend to be corrupt anyways and probably see the disaster money as a form of jizha from the West to use as they wish. And as these young men and found this out there, they have found a way to drive with women's rights back to the time they had parochial society that saw woman as baby factories and housekeepers with no rights to say no and as long as the West keep sending disaster aid money this will keep happening
I recall the governments of these countries objecting to the distributation of aid supplies by the relief organizations. The Relief organization workers were often stopped by government forces and relieved of the convoy supplies and were instructed to return back to the airport or shipping docks.
I suspect there was little accounting of the money delivered for the relief of storm victims. THe money could have gone to terrorist organizations as far as I know.
Islamic clerics are mind control freaks and Islam is a thrill kill machine.
and from the article:
In one town, Lhokseumawe, the authorities are even planning to impose a curfew on women — a move that social workers warn will force tsunami widows to quit night-time jobs as food sellers or waitresses and could drive them into prostitution.
And just what is the Islamic penalty for prostitution? I will wager it is not just a fine.
yesssirrr, Islam is a fine religion. allllahhhhh akkkkkbarrrrr.
Three words to remember when people come calling for aid after the next disaster hits Islamania-JUST SAY NO. Your money will kill far more people than it will save.
Indonesia: How Islamist Fanatics Diverted Tsunami Donations
On Boxing Day, December 26, 2004 a tsunami struck southeast Asia. People in the West were shocked by the carnage. Many Western tourists on Christmas vacation in Thailand were swept away. The images of the tsunami, captured as it surged inland by hand held video cameras, and images of the scale of its aftermath, touched the consciences of people throughout the world. Donations began to pour in to the stricken regions.
The worst affected area was the province of Aceh, on the northeastern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia. 260,000 people lost their lives, with 170,000 of these in Indonesia. Western aid workers were despatched to Banda Aceh, the coastal regency which received the full force of the giant wave.
As philanthropic work was being carried out by these relief workers, the Islamists were quick to exploit the situation to their own ends. Foremost among these were the militants of the Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders' Front. In January 2005, Hasri Husan, a leader of the group, made plain to Christian charity workers that any who attempted to "spread Christianity" would be killed. "We will chase down any Christian group that does anything beyond offering aid," he threatened, making a gesture of throat-slitting.
The Front Pembela Islam is one of the main forces which is trying to turn Indonesia's "moderate" version of Islam into a hardline sharia-controlled variety. They had 5,000 individuals in the tsunami disaster area within a month of the calamity. Other groups who came to Banda Aceh were the Islamic extremists of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Laskar Mujahideen. The latter group had been involved in fighting a sectarian religious war in Sulawesi and the Moluccas between 1998 and 2002, which killed 9,000 people, mostly Christians.
One local group took advantage of the tsunami's destruction to finally gain a semi-autonomy within Indonesia. The GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) had been fighting for thirty years for independence. 15,000 people had died in the fighting between the factions of GAM and government. In August 2005, a peace deal was signed in Finland between GAM representatives and indonesia.
By October 2000, 500,000 people still remained homeless in Aceh as a result of the tsunami, but by this time, the Islamists in the region had made steps towards implementing full sharia law.
A religious police force, called the Wilayatul Hisbah was able to control the population, exploiting religious beliefs to enact strict discipline upon the stricken survivors. Marluddin Jalil, a sharia judge, told people in the region last December that "The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh". He also said that it had brought about because women had been sinful. A year ago, he was telling housewives: "The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good."
Sharia law had officially been introduced in 2002 to Aceh - the first of Indonesia's 33 provinces to enact Islamic law. Before the tsunami, enforcement of Islamic law generally applied only to issues of family law, but with the promotion of the myth that the tsunami had come because of the region's sins, its enforcers became more draconian. The Wilyatul Hisbah made sure that women were to be kept under strict control. Women without headscarfs were hunted down, and if girls were found in cars with boyfriends, they were taken in front of the Islamic courts. If a woman is in close proximity to a man who is not a close family member or her husband, she is guilty of an Islamic crime called "khalwat". Additionally, women transgressors were paraded in public in an open car, a spectacle of shame to be jeered at by their communities.
In Lhokseumawe, 20 women had been punished in this way last December. Canings began to take place under sharia, but last year these punishments, which had previously taken place in private, became public spectacles. By March this year, 100 men and women in Aceh had been subjected to beatings.
The BBC described this month how trucks containing members of the Wilayatul Hisbah drive around, specifically looking for people to target. One woman member of this morality police said: "We just patrol around. We look for anyone not wearing proper Islamic dress, or any couples who are hanging out together without being married. We usually head down towards the beach - there's where lots of people hang out."
Even a husband and wife who are sitting in a car get a stern lecture from the Wilyatul Hisbah enforcers. The woman told the BBC: "We reminded them that in Aceh you have Sharia Law now and you're not allowed to do this even though they were actually husband and wife. This is a public place and it stirs up socially jealousy - people don't know they're husband and wife, so they're not allowed to do it."
Under sharia law, there is nothing to prevent a man sitting in close proximity with his wife. But power obviously has corrupted many within the Wilyatul Hisbah.
In theory, under Sharia Law, the law is applied to Muslims. Where there is a civil code and Sharia, a non-Muslim should be tried under the civil code, but not in Aceh.
In April this year, a minister in the Indonesian government, state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra, announced that in one district of Aceh, non-Muslims would not be allowed the option of being tried under the Indonesian civil code.
Yusril announced that a new Islamic Court would be set up in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam district. Non-Muslims who are accused of crimes like theft and adultery will have no choice but to submit to sharia by-laws. The state secretary said a two-tier legal system would create legal confusion. He said: "Should such freedom be given, non-Muslims will certainly choose to be tried under the Criminal Code, because it carries more lenient punishment."
In mid-July this year, the public beatings (carried out with a rattan or cane, which must be 1.2 meters long) took on a new dimension of spectacle, when a caning was broadcast nationally. 27-year old Saifullah Bin Ali had been caught by the Wilyatul Hisbah drinking alcohol. He was taken onto a stage, forced to kneel, and was lashed with the cane. He had been sentenced to 40 lashes, but after 7 strokes, he passed out.
Members of the WIlyatul Hisbah carry a blue book, entitled The Law of Islam in Aceh at a Glance. This lists the varioous punishments for transgressing Sharia.
Not going to the mosque for Friday prayers on three occasions: six months' jail or three strokes of the cane.
Eating and drinking in public during the fasting month: four months' jail or two strokes of the cane.
Consuming alcohol: 40 strokes of the cane.
Committing an immoral act such as sex outside marriage: maximum nine strokes of the cane and minimum three strokes and/or a fine.
The Sharia law enforced in Aceh is only partial, as it does not allow for amputations or stoning to death for "zina" - illicit intercourse, such as adultery. Some Muslim clerics bemoan this lack of totalitarianism in their sharia arrangements. Mawardi Sirega, a Muslim teacher, said: "Shariat Islam in Aceh is only lipstick."
For many within Aceh, particularly women and human rights workers, the sharia system as enforced by the Wilyatul Hisbah has already gone too far from the values they enjoyed in Aceh when it was just another province in Indonesia.
The Sunday Times today reports on the situation in what has now become in the eyes of many of its inhabitants a corrupt province. And as someone who donated the contents of my penny jar (more than $50) to tsunami relief, I find it shocking to hear that the implementation of sharia by over-zealous Islamists has been funded in the main from tsunami donations.
The Times states that international aid workers and Indonesian women's organizations are shocked to find donations intended for relief have been siphoned off to subsidize a top-heavy bureaucracy and more enforcers of the Wilyatul Hisbah. According to some, there are more of the Wilyatul Hisbah than there are regular police, and many of these Islamist "enforcers" are aggressive young men.
A woman lecturer at the Ar-Raniri University in Aceh, Nurjannah Ismail, said: "Who are these sharia police? They are men who, most of the time, are trying to send the message that their position is higher than women."
In Lhokseumawe, women are to be subjected to a gender-based curfew, if current plans come to fruition. No woman will be allowed out after dark.
As a result of the activities of the Front Pembela Islam and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), several provinces and municipalities have already enforced sharia by-laws, and women caught outside after dark have been prosecuted for prostitution.
The public canings have now numbered 140 in the province. But worse may be to come. Today's Jakarta Post reports on the consternation which has greeted the new bill which has been proposed in Aceh - amputation. I cannot believe anyone gave their donations to the tsunami remotely believing that their gifts would be ear marked for this.
The "Bill on thieves" contains the following:
Chapter 4: Anyone stealing others' belongings (that are) equal to 94 grams of gold with the intention of possession faces the threat on hand-amputation (jarimah uhud)
Chapter 5: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to 94 grams of gold or more faces the threat of a maximum 60 canings (uqubuat ta'zir) and a minimum 20 canings or a maximum fine of Rp 60 million and a minimum Rp 20 million or a maximum ten years' imprisonment and a minimum 39-month jail sentence.
Chapter 7: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to six but less than 46 grams of gold faces the threat of 15 canings at maximum and five caning in minimum, a maximum fine of Rp 15 million and a minimum Rp 5 million or a maximum 30 month-jail sentence and minimum ten-month jail sentence.
Chapter 8: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to less than six grams of gold faces a maximum five canings and minimum two canings, or a maximum fine of 5 million and Rp 2 million in minimum, or a maximum ten-month jail sentence and a minimum four-month jail sentence.
There are still signs of hope for those who wished for the moderate version of Islam favored by the majority of Indonesians to thrive in Aceh. There were gubernatorial elections on Monday December 11, part of the package of reforms promised in the August 2005 peace deal negotiated between the GAM rebels and the government.
The clear victor in the elections was Irwandi Yusuf, though vote-counting has yet to be officially completed. Irwandi is a graduate in veterinary science, which he studied in Oregon. He had been in prison as a GAM fighter two years ago. After the tsunami arrived, he escaped from jail and joined other GAM representatives in Finland.
He is not impressed by the way sharia has been implemented by moral vigilantes. He says it would be better to impose sharia amputations on people who are engaged in corruption in Aceh's bureaucracy. He claimed: "If the harsh bill is imposed on corrupters it will effectively help eliminate or minimize the corruption that has contributed to the poverty of a majority of the Acehnese people."
"Sharia law was created not to get humans in trouble but to form an Islamic religious community. How can we prohibit people from stealing what they need to survive after their rights have long since been stolen. The bill will be effective only after the people's social welfare has improved."
As governor, he will be entitled to pass or prohibit bills. He has said that he will not pass such a bill. He said on Friday: "I will never agree to such a stiff bill. Common people steal because they're hungry and they usually commit such crimes because their situation forces them to do so. It is not fair to impose such a harsh sanction on the common people."
There is still an air of tension in Aceh. The international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has now left, after monitoring the elections for provincial governor. Their mandate ran out on December 15, and if the peace which has lasted so far breaks down, it will be up to the corrupt authorities in Aceh to maintain law and order. If corruption is not imposed on the poll results and Irwandi Yusuf takes up his post as governor, then the amputation bill will become vetoed. Whether he will act to draw back the powers of the vigilantes within the Wilyatul Hisbah is another issue entirely.
http://www.westernresistance.com/
Consuming alcohol: 40 strokes of the cane.
Committing an immoral act such as sex outside marriage: maximum nine strokes of the cane and minimum three strokes and/or a fine.
Posted by: shiva at December 18, 2006 10:34 AM
Interesting-one would think the punishment for these two "crimes" would be reversed. I would think that 40 strokes with a cane would cause death in many instances. Sharia sure is a bizarre business.
People in the third world are poor, stupid, diseased and hungry for this reason: their local government. It's time people accept the truth.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic occupy different sides of the same island.
Haiti is a denuded garbage dump and is the asshole of the world to live in while the Dominican Republic has forests and exports cigars and world class baseball players.
What is the real difference here? Governance.
Leaders and rulers need to be held accountable for the condition of their people and lands. Until we become honest enough about it the world will have starvation, cholera, genocide and all the rest that brought in by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
If the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were to be honored throughout every nation by every regime on this world we'd have something to be proud of as members of the Human Race.
The UN needs to start enforcing it's own standards and removing participants not meeting those basic standards. Having a seat at the UN should not be a 'right'.
Until people acknowledge the idea that political systems and governing institutions are accountable for what goes on in the various disaster areas and war zones we'll never advance any more than we have today, 18 December 2006 anno domini (TM)
Thank you Shiva.
Anyone out there impressed by the Peacefull Religion of Islam.
Muslims continue to prove to the world that they are still seventh century rejects.
Not one penny for dar ul islam.
This is the reason I did not contribute to the relief funds and actually emailed my congressman and even the president to voice my objection of my tax dollars going to the region. I had a feeling that something like this would happen!Lot of good contacting our congressmen and other government officials did! (Not!)
I thought all those who sent money after the
tsunami hit were ignorant idiots , i still do.
My only regret is that there weren`t millions of
them killed.
These people think we are scum so **** them.
This is exactly why I didn't donate to this.....I donated to the 9/11 Firefighters, Victims of 9/11, and donate to the Ronald McDonald House, the Salvation Army, and to the American Cancer Society regularly.
When I saw a picture of one of these tsunami "victims" wearing an Usama bin Laden t-shirt in one of the photos.........I figured that the six and a half foot long toilet brush known as UBL can come out of his cave and donate to those who think he's some kind of hero.
Aid to Indonesia supports racism
October 12, 2004, as well as on Al Jazeera.net on October 15, 2004, we learned that Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, expressed the following racist remarks:
The Jakarta daily Sinar Harapan (Voice of Hope) this week quoted Jusuf saying he was considering changes on lending polices that would lower the interest rates on loans to a group overwhelmingly comprised (by his own admission up to 95%) of indigenous Indonesian businessmen.
Jusuf claims that the policy will level the business playing field and reduce the amount of discrimination directed at the nation's tiny ethnic Chinese community.
When asked whether the policy was discriminatory, he replied: "Would you (Indonesian Chinese) choose to be discriminated against or you prefer to be burned out and hunted down?"
shiva ,
This of course amounts to " be dhimmis or be dead". welcome to moderate islam.
These indonesians seems not to have any reaction after the stories of mistreatment of indonesian workers and maids in arab countries. It seems the muslim arabs are a master race and can do no wrong in the eyes of the Indonesians.
I am glad I did not contribute to the tsunami relief fund in indonesia. What a waste of money
NOT ONE RED CENT WILL I EVER DONATE TO A MUSLIM!!!!
You know, a hundred tsunamis on Indonesia, and a
hundred earthquakes in Pakistan (which thankfully
took annoying Ahmadi apologist Naseem and it's
spouse offline) would really make my day. Iran is
also a center of seismic activity too, right?
I look forward to the day when another major
disaster happens and Americans just go "Awww,
that's too bad..." and laugh ourselves silly.
Sorry I didn't keep the article but I remember also that donated trucks were held up in bond because the government insisted that full customs duty (in the hundreds-of thousands-of-dollars) were to be paid first to get them released.
I don't know what happened afterwards, but in any case it's scandalous that WE SHOULD CARE for these morons and they don't give s#!t for their own people....
The tsumani destruction in Aceh was another opportunity missed by non-radical Islam. After the huge waves devastated Aceh, what better time could there have been for non-radical immans to rush in and preach that Allah had punished Aceh for being too radical, for honoring Osama BL, for wanting to implement Sharia law, and so on.
The non-radicals totally missed this opportunity and the radicals flooded the area and used the tsumani as an excuse to push the poor people of Aceh back into the 7th Century.
I suppose the point of the previous two paragraphs is to make it clear that either:
1. there aren't very many non-radical Muslims; or
2. if there are many non-radical Muslims, they can't organize an effort to further their own flavor of Islam; or
3. any non-radicals who exist do not wish to confront radical Islamists.
Whose brilliant idea was it to let the locals distribute relief funds?
. Sharia sure is a bizarre business.
Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS
It is complete insanity unfit for humanity.
I made sure none of my aid money went to any islamic area.
Question:
Did any one here think that this would not happen?
waiting..
waiting...
zzzzz