[Indonesia] Aceh ‘Punks’ Arrested for ‘Re-education’

FinnLizzy

Banda Aceh. Dozens of young people were being held and punished by Aceh police on Tuesday for the supposed crime of being “punk,” despite not being charged with any crime nor being brought before a court.

The 64 music lovers, some of whom had come from as far as Jakarta and West Java, were arrested by regular and Shariah police as they held a charity concert in Banda Aceh’s Taman Budaya park on Saturday night.

Banda Aceh police took the arrestees on Tuesday afternoon to the Aceh State Police School for “reeducation.” Aceh police chief Ins. Gen. Iskandar Hasan described the punishment awaiting them when they reached the police school in the Seulawah hills, 62 kilometers east of he capital.

“There will be a traditional ceremony. First their hair will be cut. Then they will be tossed into a pool. The women’s hair we’ll cut in the fashion of a female police officer,” Iskander said on Tuesday. “Then we’ll teach them a lesson.”

Iskander denied the punishment constituted a breach of human rights.

“We’ll change their disgusting clothes. We’ll replace them with nice clothes. We’ll give them toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, sandals and prayer gear. It will all be given to them,” he said. “I’ll remind [police] not to breach human rights. We are oriented to educating our community, our nation. This is our country too, right?”

Iskandar said he would invite the Muslim Cleric Council to participate in “restoring their [the arrestees’] right thinking and morals.”

Human rights groups opposed the action.

Evi Narti Zain, executive director of the Aceh Human Rights Coalition, said the police’s action was violent and illegal.

“What is this education? The police’s action is inconsistent because the punks did nothing wrong,” Evi said. “Punk music is their way of expressing themselves. It is normal and is found all around the world. It’s their right to express their freedom. There’s nothing wrong with punk kids.”

Aceh Legal Aid Foundation’s director, Hospinovizal Sabri, said he had tried to get the young people released since their arrest on Saturday night.

“On the night the punks were arrested by the Police and Shariah Police we met with them, and we went again to the police station and spoke to some of them this morning [Tuesday],” Hospinovizal said. “We are working hard to have them released because they have breached no law.”

Hospinovizal said he aimed to take a habeas corpus type action before a judge to have the court force the police to release the young people. “There’s a perception from some quarters in Aceh that they are human rubbish, but it is clear they are innocent and are only expressing their independence in their own way.”

Iskandar said their date of release would “depend on the budget from the regional government.”

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/aceh-punks-arrested-for-re-education/484549

A bit of an odd punishment, and it sounds like a plot to a corny 80s movie.
What are your views on this?

chin_grin

Aceh, how does one pronounce "Aceh"?

*um......I'm going on the assumption that it's "I-say".........hence.......the...........Yeah, straws. Me. Grasping.

WindSock

Atchay

As in atchay and scratchay

chin_grin

WindSock wrote: »

Atchay

As in atchay and scratchay

Bless you.

Leftyflip

That's just fúcked up. Words can't even explain how stupid this is.

biko

Any chance of getting the Aceh police to do a sweep here in Galway?

sensibleken

Someone tell Henry Rollins!

starbelgrade

"I know what you’re thinking: “Did he fire six shots, or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a 44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question:

'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, punk?"

chin_grin

sensibleken wrote: »

Someone tell Henry Rollins!

I'd love to hear three hours of him talk about this story. (I am a Rollins fan).

sensibleken

chin_grin wrote: »

I'd love to hear three hours of him talk about this story. (I am a Rollins fan).

ditto. black flag are one of the best bands to have ever existed

WindSock

MMMmmm. Iskandars.

Duggy747

Thought the thread title read Acer 'Punks'

That pesky laptop brand!

chin_grin

sensibleken wrote: »

ditto. black flag are one of the best bands to have ever existed

-_0...........not sure if taking the p!ss. I don't really like 'em to be honest. Actually punk can fup right the fup off. Hate it.

Duggy747 wrote: »

Thought the thread title read Acer 'Punks'

That pesky laptop brand!

Yeah, how I read it too. You rabble cheap you rabble twice.

smegmar

I say why not. Different cultures have different values, some people just think society would be better off with conformity. I say let them at it. They made sure not to hurt the punks, and they were treated well in prison it seems. Every culture should have some control on what direction it's youth are influenced it. It's a rejection of this Westernisation and especially "Americanisation" that is taking over the world. (Another reason we now have "Tallaghfornia").

If any culture wants to set bounds and standards I think they are perfectly allowed to do so. We have free speech and that's great for us, maybe it's not great for everyone. As long as it gives some wiggle room for self expression in certain aspects bounds can be a good thing.

biko

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501712_162-57342752/hard-line-indonesian-police-shave-punkers-mohawks/

Police in Indonesia's most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans, buzzing off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values.
...
"We're not torturing anyone," the police chief said. "We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."
...
Aceh — where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago — enjoys semiautonomy from the central government.

Some local governments in other parts of the country — which has seen tremendous changes with lighting-speed economic growth and modernization since the ouster of longtime dictator Suharto one decade ago — also have tried to ban "immoral" behavior, like drinking alcohol, gambling and kissing in public.
They've met with limited success, however, largely because most of the country's 200 million Muslims practice moderate forms of the faith.

rambutman

Ach-eh

like atchooo (as in sneeze) minus the ooo with an "eh?" as the end.

I spend some time in that neck of the woods before. There was a civil war going on at the time there. Didn't get off my bus at the right stop and the next stop was about 2 hours on - ended up right in the middle of it..............found a guest-house (homestay) and bedded down for the night with the sound of gunfire in the distance all night - got the 4uck out of town the next morning sharpish

bijapos

Crazy stuff alright, but speaking as a man with long hair there are plenty of people in Ireland, in all age groups who would love to do that here as well.

A few pics here too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/dec/14/police-arrest-punks-indonesia#/?picture=383286293&index=0

Wossack

thought it was about spotty dyslexic teenagers

Jimmy Bottlehead

Wow. Congrats to the government for definitely NOT being backwards about society.

wes

Thats a bit nuts alright. Hopefully, the central government will step in and stop this idocy.

kraggy

I was in Aceh about a year and half ago.

Amazing place would be an understatement. Aceh is the province in which Banda Aceh, the capital is located on the island of Sumatra. Aceh is the only province on Sumatra where Sharia law is in place. And boy do you feel it.

Was out on an island off the coast of Banda Aceh (but still in Aceh province) and it was a most beautiful island, called Pula Weh. However, there are 2 forms of police - the civil police and the Muslim or Sharia police. On the Friday night, the Sharia police were doing the rounds. I was hanging out with a few lads from Medan, the capital of Sumatra, but a non-Sharia area. They were up on this island for the weekend. So, we were sitting down in a cool restaurant having a few drinks and the cool chick owner of the restaurant got a call from another restaurant that the Muslim/Sharia Police were on the way down so all of a sudden she rushes behind the bar, gets a long-sleeved cardigan, long trousers and other things to make her look more conservative, then she ran over to us and started collecting all the cans of beer and ****ed them out the back. The boys were really pissed off. Not with her though. With the fact that their weekend away was ruined by this episode. 3 out of the 4 of them were Muslim, the other one being Christian. While very religious and proud of Islam the 3 were visibly saddened by what had happened. Technically I could have stayed there with my drink, but I didn't want to put pressure on the owner as she wasn't supposed to be selling alcohol being a Muslim. So I left. The lads went back to their bungalow and hung out there, pissed off over what happened but had been expecting it as they were Muslims in Sharia law province.

The next day we went snorkelling. Amazing turquoise water with all sorts of fish, turtles, small sharks etc. Very surreal to look towards the shore and see the women bathe fully clothed. Amazing island though.

Banda Aceh, the city on mainland Sumatra which is where the OP is located, is the place that got hit the worst in the tsunami of 2005. An incredible thing that I saw there was quite a large ship, on grass, surrounded by houses, 7km inland. It's still there to this day.

Also, the central mosque in Banda Aceh is famous amongst Muslims around the world. Not only is it a beautiful building but when the tsunami hit, it was untouched while all around it was devestated. I'm not believer in religion, but the pictures I saw of that day are something special. Literally metres away, other buildings across the street still show the type horror that occurred that day, but the mosque remains unscathed.

Look here:

Nice picture of Mosque normally http://www.google.com/imgres?q=banda+aceh+mosque&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=799&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=RZmWlgvraD-x2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.islamicity.com/culture/mosques/asia/bagm.htm&docid=6yZNJjvNj1gTlM&imgurl=http://www.islamicity.com/culture/mosques/asia/bagm.jpg&w=394&h=284&ei=mLToToyZOZGciAf6tvn9BA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=370&sig=116975223645942663553&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=190&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&tx=102&ty=37

You'll see in some of these aerial photos the devestation around the mosque while the mosque itself was almost untouched
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=799&q=banda+aceh+mosque&gbv=2&oq=banda+aceh+mosque&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2023l7180l0l9954l17l13l0l3l3l0l581l2103l0.3.3.1.0.1l8l0


The writing of this post has brought back some fond memories of my time there.

FinnLizzy

smegmar wrote: »

I say why not. Different cultures have different values, some people just think society would be better off with conformity. I say let them at it. They made sure not to hurt the punks, and they were treated well in prison it seems. Every culture should have some control on what direction it's youth are influenced it. It's a rejection of this Westernisation and especially "Americanisation" that is taking over the world. (Another reason we now have "Tallaghfornia").

If any culture wants to set bounds and standards I think they are perfectly allowed to do so. We have free speech and that's great for us, maybe it's not great for everyone. As long as it gives some wiggle room for self expression in certain aspects bounds can be a good thing.

Are you fúcking serious?

Pinturicchio

"I’ll remind [police] not to breach human rights."

That's grand so. :rolleyes:

Ray Palmer

FinnLizzy wrote: »

Are you fúcking serious?

I see the point he is making. Freedom of expression isn't a perfect situation. There is good and bad the same with their way.

I'd rather have freedom but it doesn't mean that their way doesn't work.

Daftendirekt

smegmar wrote: »

I say why not. Different cultures have different values, some people just think society would be better off with conformity. I say let them at it. They made sure not to hurt the punks, and they were treated well in prison it seems. Every culture should have some control on what direction it's youth are influenced it. It's a rejection of this Westernisation and especially "Americanisation" that is taking over the world. (Another reason we now have "Tallaghfornia").

If any culture wants to set bounds and standards I think they are perfectly allowed to do so. We have free speech and that's great for us, maybe it's not great for everyone. As long as it gives some wiggle room for self expression in certain aspects bounds can be a good thing.

Not sure if you're trolling, but...

We need not respect any culture that doesn't respect its members' civil liberties and basic human rights.

Arresting people for looking funny is never a good thing.

Nodin

smegmar wrote: »

I say why not. Different cultures have different values, some people just think society would be better off with conformity. I say let them at it. They made sure not to hurt the punks, and they were treated well in prison it seems. Every culture should have some control on what direction it's youth are influenced it. It's a rejection of this Westernisation and especially "Americanisation" that is taking over the world. (Another reason we now have "Tallaghfornia").

If any culture wants to set bounds and standards I think they are perfectly allowed to do so. We have free speech and that's great for us, maybe it's not great for everyone. As long as it gives some wiggle room for self expression in certain aspects bounds can be a good thing.

They're allowed do it, I'm allowed think they're a shower of fuckwits for doing it.

FinnLizzy

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I see the point he is making. Freedom of expression isn't a perfect situation. There is good and bad the same with their way.

I'd rather have freedom but it doesn't mean that their way doesn't work.

But they weren't doing anything illegal. And it's obvious that their way doesn't work when stuff like this happens.

rambutman

kraggy wrote: »

I was in Aceh about a year and half ago.

Amazing place would be an understatement. Aceh is the province in which Banda Aceh, the capital is located on the island of Sumatra. Aceh is the only province on Sumatra where Sharia law is in place. And boy do you feel it.

Was out on an island off the coast of Banda Aceh (but still in Aceh province) and it was a most beautiful island, called Pula Weh.

Spent about 6 weeks in Pulah Weh in 2002 - lovely place...........swimming out to Pulah Riboh in the days. The snorkelling (and diving) is something else..........happy times.

No sharia police then.............lots of weed though

Herb Powell

smegmar wrote: »

I say why not. Different cultures have different values, some people just think society would be better off with conformity. I say let them at it. They made sure not to hurt the punks, and they were treated well in prison it seems. Every culture should have some control on what direction it's youth are influenced it. It's a rejection of this Westernisation and especially "Americanisation" that is taking over the world. (Another reason we now have "Tallaghfornia").

If any culture wants to set bounds and standards I think they are perfectly allowed to do so. We have free speech and that's great for us, maybe it's not great for everyone. As long as it gives some wiggle room for self expression in certain aspects bounds can be a good thing.

No.

What a load of shiite. Do they not realise this is the EXACT kind of thing that fuels the punk movement?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCOGM7PL8gY