Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – The religious police are earning a bad reputation among some Banda Aceh residents for arrogance and thuggery.

Known locally as Wilayatul Hisbah, the sharia police were set up under a 2001 regulation on Islamic law, part of the special autonomy granted to Aceh by the central government. As part of the regulation, a special "religious police" unit was established to enforce religious norms, such as the ban on alcohol, gambling and "intimacy" between unmarried couples. Those found violating these norms can be punished by caning.

However, some residents of the provincial capital believe the sharia police have become arrogant and overzealous. "They (the sharia police) should show some consideration when enforcing the law and not be so arbitrary," a cafe owner, Malkin, 27, told The Jakarta Post.

Members of the sharia police raided Malkin's small cafe as he was attending customers and took him to the local public order office for questioning, along with his chairs and tables as evidence. "They said my cafe was dimly lit and could become seedy. But it's located right next to a main road, where no one would think of doing anything immoral," he said.

Malkin said all he did at his cafe was sell food. He also accused the members of the sharia police, as well as officers from the municipal public order agency, of treating him roughly during the raid. "If they pray five times a day, OK, but I'm not sure they do," he added.

The religious police also have raided beauty salons and restaurants, reportedly looking for prostitutes, but only finding hair stylists, waitresses and diners.

"Mira", for example, was eating at a restaurant one night with several friends when the sharia police and public order officers burst into the place and surrounded them. "It was unbelievable, and a violation of privacy. They acted like we were doing something immoral simply by having dinner together in a restaurant," she said.

Sharia police, with public order officers, have rounded up girls not wearing headscarves and seized dozens of bottles of alcohol during raids over the past several days.

The head of the Banda Aceh Sharia Administration Office, Raja Radan, said the sharia police still had to be accompanied by public order officers or the police on raids, because they were not yet full civil servants and were thus unauthorized to carry out raids alone. "In the future they will conduct the raids by themselves. As to the charge of arrogance, that is just not true," said Radan.

He said the sharia police would focus their attention on the dress code and immoral acts such as gambling, drinking and premarital sex. "Most cases so far have been related to sexual promiscuity, which has influenced our youths," said Radan.

Asked if corruption cases eventually would be tried in sharia courts, Radan said there was still no bylaw on corruption that would allow the religious courts to hear these cases. "But we are considering the matter," he said.