Indonesia's Aceh punks arrested then shaved as part of 're-education'

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Dozens of young men and women have been detained for being "punk" and disturbing the peace in Aceh, Indonesia's most devoutly Muslim province. They are being held in a remedial school, where they are undergoing "re-education".

Rights groups have expressed concern after photographs emerged of the young men having their mohawks and funky hairstyles shaved off by Aceh's police.

They look sullen and frightened as they are forced into a communal bath.

But Aceh's police say they are not trying to harm the youths, they are trying to protect them.

The 64 punks, many of whom are from as far away as Bali or Jakarta, were picked up on Saturday night during a local concert.

Aceh police spokesman Gustav Leo says there have been complaints from residents nearby.

The residents did not like the behaviour of the punks and alleged that some of them had approached locals for money.
Morals unmatched

Mr Leo stressed that no-one had been charged with any crime, and there were no plans to do so.

They have now been taken to a remedial school in the Seulawah Hills, about 60km (37 miles) away from the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

"They will undergo a re-education so their morals will match those of other Acehnese people," says Mr Leo.

But activists say the manner in which the young people have been treated is humiliating and a violation of human rights.

Aceh Human Rights Coalition chief Evi Narti Zain says the police should not have taken such harsh steps, accusing them of treating children like criminals.

"They are just children, teenagers, expressing themselves," she says.

"Of course there are Acehnese people who complained about them - but regardless of that, this case shouldn't have been handled like this. They were doused with cold water, and their heads were shaved - this is a human rights violation. Their dignity was abused."

But Mr Leo disagrees.

"We didn't arrest them, they haven't committed any criminal offence," he says.

"They are Aceh's own children - we are doing this for their own good. Their future could be at risk. We are re-educating them so they don't shame their parents."

This is the second time Aceh's police have clamped down on punks in the province, which is the only province in Indonesia allowed to implement shariah law.

There is a thriving underground punk music scene in Aceh, but many punk-lovers are viewed suspiciously by local residents.

Many of the young teens sport outrageous hairstyles, in keeping with punk culture, but against the norms of the keenly religious in Aceh.

Aceh is one of the most devout Muslim provinces in Indonesia, and observers say it has becoming increasingly more conservative since Islamic law was implemented a few years ago.

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

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.”

Yeah, I saw this earlier. Horrible.

the pictures i saw on the telegraph site were worse

it was the guardian
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re-education
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Police in Indonesia's most conservative province have stripped away body piercings and shaved off mohicans from 65 youths detained at a punk-rock concert because of their perceived threat to Islamic values.

The teens and young men were also stripped of dog-collar necklaces and chains and then thrown in pools of water for "spiritual" cleansing, the local police chief, Iskandar Hasan, said on Wednesday.

After replacing their "disgusting" clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked: "Use it."

It was the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million people to have imposed Islamic laws.

Here, adultery is punishable by stoning to death, gay people have been thrown in jail or lashed in public with rattan canes, and women must wear headscarves.

Punk rockers have complained for months about harassment, but Saturday's roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the most dramatic.

Baton-wielding police broke up the concert, scattering young music lovers, many of whom had travelled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation.

Dozens were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention centre in the hills, 30 miles (60km) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, for rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Qur'an recitation.

They will be held there for at least 10 days, after which they will be returned to their parents.

One 20-year-old detainee, Fauzan, was mortified.

"Why? Why my hair?" he said, pointing to his clean-shaven head. "We didn't hurt anyone. This is how we've chosen to express ourselves. Why are they treating us like criminals?"

But the police chief, Hasan, insisted he had done nothing wrong.

"We're not torturing anyone," he said. "We're not violating human rights. We're just trying to put them back on the right moral path."

However, Nur Kholis, a national human rights commissioner, deplored the detention, saying police must explain what criminal laws were violated by the youngsters.

"Otherwise, they violated people's right of gathering and expression," Kholis said, and promised to investigate it.

Aceh was given semi-autonomy as part of a peace deal with Indonesia's central government after the province agreed to end a separatist struggle in 2005.

Yeah, I mean, with regard to the highlighted bit, a part of me did think "well, other people have it worse than the punks", but... that's not the issue. I can't imagine what it would be like to be unable to have the freedom to express myself through music.

they haven't shown any other photos of what they did to the girls

i was going to post this earlier but someone abducted & forcibly immersed ilx & probably deleted all the ilx skatepunk threads

sux but hey im sure suharto did worse so like idk progress or sthing

I can't imagine what it would be like to be unable to have the freedom to express myself through music.

― Illia Rump (emil.y), Wednesday, 14 December 2011 22:26 (14 minutes ago)

didnt they call blighty das land ohne musik for about 300 yrs between purcell and the first swell maps album? between those years, english people could listen only to skiffle and muscular xtian hymns

the english banned bagpipes

http://people.stfx.ca/mnewton/werebagpipesbanned.pdf

seems like one military bagpiper got executed and the myth spread

yoshi wada should totally record an album on the site of the battle of culloden tho

We’ll give them toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, sandals and prayer gear.

Another instance where I just wanna say, fuck you very much organized religion.

reminds me of a zhang huan photograph

saw this yesterday,thought it was p cool

yeah that's a nice thing to do

Surely this is ground zero for a HUGE groundswell of punk rock all over Indonesia and beyond.

yeah - and shaving your head as an act of defiance (see X tattoos at straight-edge gigs etc)

As someone said over on dffd, what will they do with skinhead punks? put wigs on them?

some people have been emailing about it
http://www.indonesianembassy.org.uk/aboutus/contactUs.html