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Aceh ‘Punks’ Arrested for ‘Re-education’
Nurdin Hasan | December 13, 2011

Acehnese punks participated in the "Street Punk" charity concert held at the Cultural Park, Banda Aceh, on Saturday. On Tuesday dozens of young people were being held and punished by Aceh police for the supposed crime of being Acehnese punks participated in the "Street Punk" charity concert held at the Cultural Park, Banda Aceh, on Saturday. On Tuesday dozens of young people were being held and punished by Aceh police for the supposed crime of being 'punk,' despite not being charged with any crime nor being brought before a court. (Antara Photo/Irwansyah Putra)
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bawel
6:31am Feb 2, 2012

To all punk supporters : would you be happy if your kids become one of them ?

roguesinparadise
4:28pm Dec 19, 2011

So according to some, this is NOT a breach of human rights? I'm from the country where it was written and i can tell the difference of human right "culture" i see NONE. Those who defends this idea should not bother complaining next time some powerful country bomb them into submitting to "Democracy" and i will remember this next time i am suggested to participate to an anti-war demo. Don't try this with me and leave punks alone.

ExpatsWithAMission
12:12pm Dec 16, 2011

@jusdogin

Clarification: Only NATIONAL police are involved in this. So do not bring sharia law on the table, shall we?


ExpatsWithAMission
12:03pm Dec 16, 2011

@Sceptic

No need to bring abuse of human rights issue blablabla, the victims of Lampung massacre deserved more public attention than this.

Besides no one's being tortured, hurt physically or detained in Jail for God's sake! They stayed in the academy for awhile, kinda like mental training. Even Diklat Mahasiswa Pecinta Alam (Leadership Training)is a lot tougher than this. Besides, it could be more effective than classroom-style counseling. Been there, done that.

@jusdogin

The silliness of your post is also beyond my comprehension, dude.

So, please distinguish between social norms/local wisdoms and religion.

Haven't you read my other post that punks/posers are also arrested in Jakarta, and other cities for causing public disorder? It does not have anything to do with sharia law. More about cultural issues.

ExpatsWithAMission
11:32am Dec 16, 2011

@Lauren

From The Guardian, 19 September 2011,

http://bit.ly/nFz5Lf

"..worrying increase in discrimination and verbal and physical violence against women in veils. There have been instances of people in the street taking the law into their hands and trying to rip off full-face veils, or bus drivers refusing to carry women in niqab or of shop-owners trying to bar entry. A few women have taken to wearing bird-flu-style medical masks to keep their face covered; some describe a climate of divisiveness, mistrust and fear."

Now that you've heard ;)

Probably not exactly similar, but it's worse in France, yeah?

What the police do is simply to educate them about local norms and self-hygiene, so that they're more concerned about their well-being and the environment they live in.

Educating them with such fashion is probably more effective. I myself had been in similar mental/leadership training, and it affected me a lot more positively than the usual-classroom style counseling.

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.”

Related stories:
It's a Tale of Two Acehs for Two Events
Aceh Punks on the Run as Shariah Police Crack Down