Unmarried couples banned from motorbike rides

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: A district in Indonesia’s Aceh has passed legislation banning unmarried men and women from riding together on motorbikes, a lawmaker said, the latest new regulation in the province.
Members of parliament in North Aceh district recently approved the regulation, which will come into effect in a year, said lawmaker Fauzan Hamzah, adding that authorities were making “efforts to implement Shariah law fully.”
“Unmarried people sitting closely together on a motorcycle is clearly against Shariah as it could lead to sinful acts,” Hamzah said.
Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, is the only province in the country that is allowed to implement Islamic law.
The province began implementing Shariah law after being granted special autonomy in 2001.
The latest move to ban shared motorbike rides, which will affect more than 500,000 people on North Aceh, came after one city in Aceh in 2013 prohibited women from straddling male drivers on motorbikes, requiring that they ride sidesaddle instead.
The new regulation was the most eye-catching in a series of religious bylaws approved in North Aceh on Thursday, which also included a ban on live music performances and the separation of male and female students in school. The new rules will take effect in May 2016 after a one-year grace period.
Hamzah did not say what punishments would be meted out to unmarried couples caught together on a motorbike.
He did list several punishments that could be implemented for all the new religious laws, which ranged from a formal reprimand to fines and people being expelled from their villages.
“We will make efforts so that deeds which can lead to sin are eliminated gradually in North Aceh district,” he added.
The provincial parliament in Aceh, as well as district parliaments, can pass their own Islamic bylaws.