Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Aceh needs at least 100 more judges to fully implement sharia across the province, with many sharia courts operating with only three to five judges.

Sharia High Court judge Marluddin said that currently there are 19 sharia courts in each regency. "We need more judges to deal with the many violations being taken to the courts," he told The Jakarta Post in Banda Aceh on Friday.

He said a sharia judge had to be able to read the Koran and kitab kuning, or classical works on Islamic law.

This makes it difficult to recruit sharia judges, Marluddin said, because kitab kuning skills are generally limited to graduates of sharia departments at universities.

"It's not easy to pass these departments, which is maybe why it's a bit difficult to find sharia judges," Marluddin said.

Aceh has implemented sharia since 2003, including the passage of seven sharia-inspired qanun (local ordinances). Among the qanun are ordinances against khamar (drinking), maisir (gambling) and khalwat (premarital sex), and one on dress.

District courts in the province no longer deal with cases which fall under the purview of these seven qanun, with such cases being heard at sharia courts.

A regulation on the establishment of the Sharia High Court was introduced in 2005, and it has since dealt with 157 cases. Of these cases, 103 were brought to the court in 2005, 53 in 2006 and one case has been taken to the court this year.

"Most of the cases tried relate to drinking and gambling," said Sharia High Court head Soufyan Saleh.

Dress code violations are not being tried in court. Violators receive a lecture and sign a pledge promising to adhere to Islamic dress.

Many of the defendants tried at the sharia courts are not represented by lawyers, he said. "The violators are usually caught in the act, so many of them prefer not to appeal the case to the higher court since it would be a waste of time," he said.

Although based on sharia, legal decisions at sharia courts still refer to Indonesian law, with investigators and prosecutors still involved, as well as the police.

"There are sharia police, or wilayatulhisbad, but their job is only to give advice, not to arrest and interrogate," Soufyan said.

The introduction of sharia in Aceh was made possible under the special autonomy status granted the province in 2001. However, many people have criticized the enforcement of sharia as focusing solely on average people.

"Sharia should not only focus on gambling, drinking or premarital sex. It should also deal with the corruption charges that involve many big names," said a Banda Aceh resident who asked not to be identified.