Unmarried couples ‘can’t sit together in public from 9pm’

A DISTRICT in Indonesia’s deeply conservative Aceh province has banned unmarried couples from sitting at the same table in restaurants, cafés or coffee shops, an official said yesterday.

The head of Bireuen district’s Islamic affairs office said the measure also forbids restaurants, cafés and coffee shops from serving female customers after 9pm if they are not accompanied by their husbands, fathers, brothers, or other close relatives.

Aceh is the only province in Muslimmajority Indonesia that practises Islamic Shariah law, a concession made by the central government in 2001 as part of efforts to end a decades-long war for independence.

“Unmarried males and females who are not close relatives should not eat and drink at the same table, because it is sinful, according to Shariah law,” said Jufliwan, who uses a single name.

He said the regulation, issued on Aug 30, also prohibits restaurants and coffee shops from hiring lesbians, gays, or bisexual or transgender people as waiters or waitresses.

In 2014 the province passed a law that punishes gay sex by public caning.