Iran’s Mahsa Amini hijab protests a lesson for Indonesia against radical Islam, activists say

Name: Iranian women join hijab-burning protest after Mahsa Amini dies while in ‘morality police’ custody
Uploaded: 2022-10-01T06:00:22.000Z
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Iranian women join hijab-burning protest after Mahsa Amini dies while in ‘morality police’ custody

Outrage over Iran’s hijab laws after a woman’s death have sparked fears Indonesia could face a similar fate amid a rise in religious fundamentalism

Analysts say especially concerning is the growing grip of Wahhabism, which promotes a narrow view of Islam, across Indonesian institutions and regions

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People in California march during a candlelight vigil for Mahsa Amini. Photo: AFP

Resty Woro Yuniar

Published: 2:00pm, 1 Oct 2022Updated: 2:16am, 21 Apr 2023

The spiralling unrest in Iran over a young woman’s death is a cautionary tale for Indonesia, say rights activists in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, where women face hundreds of systemic rules making headscarves obligatory.

At least 40 demonstrators have reportedly been killed across Iran after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, was arrested in Tehran by so-called morality officers for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, the Muslim headscarf for women. She died in custody amid rumours she had been beaten to death.

Some women have burned their hijabs and cut their hair short as an act of defiance, as protests spread across the Middle East and as far as Europe and North America. In Indonesia, online commentators have expressed solidarity with Iranian women, while also warning the Southeast Asian nation could face the same fate if religious fundamentalists are not reined in.

“I think all regulations that make the hijab mandatory in Indonesia must be revoked, if we don’t want to copy the mistakes of the Iranian government, as well as the Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan governments,” said Andreas Harsono, a Jakarta-based researcher with Human Rights Watch.

“Women are free to wear the hijab; we don’t need to enforce it. Women who don’t wear the hijab should be afforded the same respect as those who wear it. It’s an individual choice,” added Harsono, who has studied hijab rules in Indonesia extensively.

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Iranian women join hijab-burning protest after Mahsa Amini dies while in ‘morality police’ custody

While Muslim women in Indonesia are obliged to wear the religious headscarf in various places and on occasions, the phenomenon was relatively recent, he noted.

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