European legislators warned Monday that Islamic-based laws limiting the rights of women in some part of Indonesia could scare off investors and damage international relations.Indonesia is a secular, democratic state. In recent years, so-called bylaws have been adopted in one province and some districts implementing conservative views. Some fear the change could pressure the central government to follow.German lawmaker Hartmut Nassauer, speaking at the end of a five-day visit by European politicians to southeast Asia, said that while Indonesia is a democracy, the passing of Shariah, or Islamic law, "could burden international relationships. ""If a state introduces religious laws it automatically separates itself from other states where we are free to practice faith, but not obliged to," he said, speaking on behalf of a group of nine lawmakers."Such a development has an impact on relationships with other countries," he said, referring to European economic interests in Indonesia.Around 90 percent of Indonesia's 220 million residents are Muslim, the vast majority of them moderate.Around two-thirds of the population disagrees with harsh Islamic laws that punish women for not covering their heads or allow for convicted thieves to have their hands amputated, a recent opinion poll showed.In the strictly devout Aceh province, where the Shariah police enforce laws governing religious morality, a woman can be punished for not wearing a head scarf in public or going out after an evening curfew.A bill was recently submitted to parliament to make non-Muslims comply with Shariah law in Aceh, raising alarm among the nation's minority Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.The nine lawmakers said in a statement they were also concerned about corruption in the judiciary and suggested Jakarta follow the example of other Southeast Asian countries that have already or are considering abolishing the death penalty.
A policeman, right, watches over two masseuses and their customers during a raid on suspected prostitution activities at a hotel in Changchun, in northeast China's Jilin province The Bandung authority is at loss to uncover cases of covert prostitution involving junior and senior high school students, whose number continues to rise in the West Java capital. Eli, a sex worker advocacy program mentor from the Rumah Cemara Group in Bandung, said it was hard to provide advocacy to teenagers involved in covert prostitution since most were not receptive. The number of those involved in covert prostitution is believed to be higher compared to commercial sex on the streets, she added. Eli has been providing support to more than 200 housewives and child sex workers over the past two years, around 20 of who are senior high school students between the ages of 15 and 16. "They are psychologically unstable at those ages. They are hard to handle due to their strong motivation to ea
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