Indonesia's First Female Recruit In 'Flogging Squad' Whips Her First Criminal

While Indonesia has a predominantly Muslim population, Aceh is the only region in the nation that practices and imposes the Islamic law of Sharia. And the ones who don’t abide by the law are often publicly whipped with a rattan cane- a punishment which was recently meted out to an unmarried woman caught with a man in a hotel room.

In 2005, Aceh and the central government agreed on an autonomy deal which allows Aceh to follow the religious law, unlike the rest of the nation. The agreement was made to end the decades-long separatist insurgency in the nation. Thus, public whipping is a common form of punishment in the region for offenders who commit offenses like gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.

Till now, the public flogging has been done by men who did it all for an unspecified fee. But now, with the advent of greater Internet access and globalization, more women are being charged for “crimes” like public affection or premarital sex, so Aceh has now turned to the Islamic law, which directs women to whip female perpetrators. The first female squad of eight women floggers, all Sharia officers, has been assembled and trained.

And recently, the first female recruit of the all-new ‘“Flogging squad” in Indonesia’s Aceh province whipped her first criminal in public and was praised for her “technique.” While she was visibly nervous at first, she soon punished the unmarried woman who was caught with a man in a hotel room.

“I think she did a good job. Her technique was nice,” said Banda Aceh Sharia police chief investigator Zakwan.

Public flogging as a punishment has always been a controversial topic, one that has attracted the ire of human rights activists all over the world as well as the heated media debates of politicians on the best way to do away with this cruel practice.

Even though Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, has issued a call on multiple occasions to put a stop to the public floggings, the 2005’s autonomy deal pretty much render his orders null and void in the conservation region of Aceh.