Policewomen Hijab: No Excuse to Postpone Human Rights
By Siti Sarah S
A winning paper of Paper Presentation competition held by Student Association of English Education Department
November
19, 2013 became the mark of euphoria for Muslim policewomen in Indonesia. The
reason for this euphoria is the permission of wearing “Hijab” on duty for
Muslim policewomen. The supports about the hijab wearing for policewomen echoed
throughout the country. It seems that the euphoria not only owned by the Muslim
policewomen but also owned by Muslims all over the country.
Yet, this
euphoria did not last for such a long time. On November 28, 2013, the
confidential internal telegram contained the temporally banned for Hijab
wearing in the police institution has appeared. The telegram signed by Police Deputy Chief Commissioner
General Oegroseno turn out the euphoria into a disappointment. Not only for
Muslim policewomen, but also for all Indonesian Muslim.
According to the National Police
chief General Sutarman, the temporally cancelation of this decision is caused
by the issue of uniformity,. This issue leads the wearing of hijab for Muslim
policewomen is postponed until the National police had issued the new official
regulation about the new ‘Hijab’ uniform and the budget. These reasons seemed
as merely a made-up excuse. The wearing of Hijab on duty for Muslim policewomen
should not be postponed based on this excuses.
Let us imagine a woman who is saved from drowning in the
ocean. For a while she will feel relieved and she can enjoy the fresh air.
Then, suddenly you drown her again to the ocean again and not save her until
the unpredictable time. Or we can imagine a girl who is worshipping her God
through her pray, then you stop that girl and force her not to pray until the
unpredictable time (again). How do you think that women and that girl feeling?
They just become such victims of the delay of something that is really matter
to them, to their life indeed. This could do the same effect for wearing Hijab
for policewomen. Will Indonesian policewomen be the victims of the postponement
of something that really matter to them as Muslim women: Hijab?
Hijab is part of the Muslim faith and the implementation of
it. It is not merely a symbol for Muslim women. Moreover, the act to perform
and practice the religion itself were allowed and protected by Indonesian
constitution. Article 28E was introduced by an amendment to the 1945
Constitution. Article 28E (1) states that “Every person shall be free to
embrace and to practice the religion of his or her choice …”, and Article 28E
(2) states that “Every person shall have the right to the freedom to hold
beliefs, and to express his or her views and thoughts, in accordance with
his/her conscience”. Furthermore, Article 22 (1) of Law No 39/1999 concerning Human Rights states that “Every person is
free to profess their religion and to worship in accordance with their religion
and conviction”. These are the clear proofs that support the wear of Hijab for
Indonesian citizen, including women working in the police institution. The wear
of Hijab as the part of practicing the religion is not something that anyone
should look down upon.
There is better way to overcome this
problem without postponing the wear of Hijab for Muslim policewomen. Waiting
for the official regulation does not mean that the Muslim policewomen who already
wear Hijab on their duty have to take off their part of faith. It would be
better and wise to allow them to wear the Hijab while waiting the new official
regulation about their uniform with condition of wearing the suitable hijab for
their uniform.
The budgetary obstacle that has to
wait until 2015 also is not a big problem. The reality is that the policewomen
could afford the hijab by themselves that suit their uniform. Waiting until
2015 is only worsen the condition since the Hijab regulation would take a long
time which could lead to the forgotten and the cancelation of the regulation.
Take a look to other western countries that allowed the
policewomen to wear hijab, such as Britain, Sweden, etc. They respected the
freedom of practicing one’s belief. So that It is time to Indonesia to not
discriminate itself by discriminating any women wearing Hijab, especially
policewomen in this case.
Thus, the human right is the basis of human life. And everyone
has the right to their own religious beliefs. Forbidding women to wear hijab, even
it’s just temporary, is just like banning an aspect of one’s faith and trying
to kill one’s belief. Postponing the wear of hijab is to postpone the human
rights. Hence, the wearing of Hijab for Policewomen should not be delayed.
S Sarah S
Sekretaris Departemen HUMAS KAMMI UIN Bandung 2013-2014
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