Jakarta – The crop of bylaws on sex and morality, which have been enforced by several regencies and municipalities, are unconstitutional, gender-biased and threaten to splinter the country, experts warn.

A researcher from the Freedom Institute, Syaiful Mujani, said the Constitution's guarantee of gender equality was contravened by several rulings that treat women as second-class citizens whose behavior should be carefully monitored.

Many municipalities have made sharia-inspired bylaws on public behavior, with a focus on morality and, inevitably in a patriarchal society, the conduct of women.

In Tangerang, the administration issued a bylaw stating any women in public after 7 p.m. would be considered prostitutes and arrested. Syaiful described the bylaw as "humiliating" to women.

There were demands for the administration to withdraw the bylaw after public order officers arrested a pregnant married woman on her way home after work. The officers accused her of being a sex worker, fined her Rp 300,000 and detained her for four days.

"The government must take action to review all bylaws so that the bylaws do not run counter to the Constitution," he said after the launching of five books, published by the Freedom Institute and publishing house Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Other areas also are pushing through moralistic regulations, often derived from sharia principles.

In South Sulawesi, several regency administrations make it obligatory for female civil servants to wear Islamic attire. Government employees are required to be able to read and write Arabic.

Currently, Depok City Council, south of Jakarta, is preparing a bylaw on sex workers, alcohol and morality. The bylaw has been discussed by the council, and some Muslim groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front and the Indonesian Ulemas Council.

According to Syaiful, the state has the obligation to protect its citizens without discriminating between the sexes. The government must first set out a clear platform as the reference for municipalities wanting to formulate bylaws. "The platform must refer to the Constitution," he said.

A researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Mochtar Pabotinggi, agreed that bylaws proscribing sexual behavior and morality violated the essence of democracy, which is contained in the Indonesian Constitution. "In a democracy, no majority group can dominate others," he said.

He said that the bylaws concerned only Muslim group's interests and ignored those of other religious beliefs. "We have to respect other people who have different religions and not push them to do what Islam teaches. For instance, we cannot tell every woman who lives in Aceh to wear Muslim attire."

He added that in the past four years, the regional autonomy program had paid no attention to the existence of the state. "The state is important to unite a nation despite all the differences, especially a country such as Indonesia," he said.

"Many municipalities have made their bylaws without referring to the Indonesian Constitution's stipulations concerning pluralism." The administrations should remember the country's multiethnic, multi-religious composition, he added, before pushing through bylaws pandering to the interests of one group, even if it is the majority.

"Our Constitution appreciates pluralism as an Indonesian way of life. Administrations have to make bylaws that do not contradict the Constitution," he said.

"We cannot utilize two systems of law to regulate a society. The bylaws have the potential to endanger the country's unity since they ignore the essence of pluralism."