The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) was pleased to attend this event at Chatham House. The event featured a presentation by Michael Buehler, Lecturer in Comparative Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and was chaired by John Swenson-Wright, Head of Asia Programme at Chatham House.

The main points raised by Mr Buehler:

• Since the end of the authoritarian New Order regime in 1998, part of the democratisation process has witnessed the adoption of hundreds of Islamic laws at local level across Indonesia.
• This ‘sharia-ization’ is linked to the increasing influence of Islamic groups and is happening outside the main party and Parliamentary election systems.
• The phenomenon is limited to 6 distinct regions in Indonesia, with a history of deep-seated tensions between a strong aristocracy and Islamic groups, who emerged from a non-aristocratic counter-elite.The ‘sharia-ization’ trend is currently confined to local dynamics, but it has the potential to gain influence at national level.
• Many of the laws which have been adopted are not being implemented. Of those that have been implemented, there has been a disproportionate impact on women.
• The central Government is not pushing back against Islamic regulations as much as it should. The legal instruments will be hard to remove once in place.

The PHRG will continue to follow human rights issues in Indonesia closely, as well as following the broader trends of Islam and democracy across the region.