Tasikmalaya – A little-known outfit calling itself the Taleban Brigade has taken advantage of the new autonomy laws to get the authorities in this West Java city to issue edicts to enact its radical agenda.
These range from barring traffic near the main mosque during Friday prayers to requiring that elementary and high school students, no matter what religion, receive a certificate of proficiency in Islamic studies.
The local authorities have also urged women to cover their hair and called for public swimming pools to be segregated by gender.
The Taleban Brigade, whose connection with Afghanistan's erstwhile rulers is in ideology only, regards itself as a vanquisher of vice.
Its members raid nightclubs and cafes to stamp out drinking and gambling. They ransack shops suspected of selling pornographic video discs. And they sweep through hotels, rounding up prostitutes and shaving their heads. Its weekly raids are condoned by police.
"If we see it, we will destroy it or we will confiscate it," insisted Mohammed Zainal Mutaqqien Aziz, a religious teacher who heads the Taleban Brigade, which was formed in 1998 and takes its name from the Arabic word for student.
"These sorts of sinful things are not fit for Tasikmalaya." The edicts and exhortations, as well as the raids, have transformed this city and the surrounding district, a lush farming region that is home to two million people.
Women who used to walk through the market with their heads uncovered now wear scarves. Karaoke parlours, theatres and cafes have shut down. Restaurants have stopped offering liquor.
But several residents and business owners said they were unwilling to confront the Taleban Brigade or even talk to government officials. "People are too scared," said Ms Reni, a secretary who was sipping a beer with her daughter and son-in-law at the Sinta Cafe. "The Taleban have connections with the police."
The Taleban Brigade is part of a growing network of groups seeking to turn socially moderate Indonesia into a strict Islamic nation. Among the other groups are Laskar Jihad and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
"Purist" Islamic groups of Saudi Arabian origin are also making their presence felt in Indonesia. The Tarbiyah movement in Indonesia is popular with some sections of students in major universities. The members of these kind of groups want to abolish the country's secular legal system and replace it with a version of Islamic law or syariah.
Conservative Muslim leaders said they have been aided by the US campaign against terrorism, which is seen by many in Indonesia as a fight against Islam. Membership in their groups had swelled in recent months, they said.
However, a recent survey conducted by the State University of Islamic Studies found that a sizeable majority of Indonesians are opposed to radical demands such as arresting Muslims who do not fast during Ramadan and having police ensure that Muslims pray five times a day.