Sex, pork and jihad: Heard the one about Indonesia’s hijab-wearing Muslim comic?

Sakdiyah Ma’ruf doesn’t look like a typical stand-up comedian. Perhaps it’s something to do with the hijab, but there’s nothing typical about her jokes either. “Indonesian jihadists should stop using guns because it’s too American,” goes one of her favourites, “they should start using sharpened bamboo sticks, that way they would have a better image and could brand their actions eco-terrorism!”

Ma’ruf made that particular joke in Bali, the resort island that in 2002 and 2005 was rocked by suicide bombings that killed hundreds of people, mostly foreign tourists. She is unique in Indonesia, where many see her willingness to poke fun at Islamic issues as bold, especially at a time when fundamentalism and extremism are on the rise in the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation.

Ma’ruf, 35, Indonesia’s first female Muslim stand-up comic, is among a select few of her kind in Southeast Asia, where the scene is emerging from its underground roots.

She grew up in a conservative Arab community in Pekalongan, in central Java, where girls had two options: “Get married at the age of 16 or get a sex change and turn yourself into a man to get a [salary] raise,” Ma’ruf joked at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival.

“Most of my friends are rich or pretty, and I am neither so my parents sent me to school,” she quipped, inviting dry laughter from the audience.

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Ma’ruf had to hide her early gigs from her conservative parents, who wanted her to pursue a more lucrative career as a doctor or lawyer. She sneaked around and made excuses whenever she performed, telling her parents she was a public speaker.