looking for biscuits

“…so the first place to try is that unfinished woods shops near the flooded lot/fishing pond on the corner. Ask the old lady for ‘biscuits.’”

Yes, I am frantically trying to get this all down and, even worse, he is talking fast.

“If not, go to the grocery store called ‘ramai’ across the street from the grand mosque. The trick there is to go in and mill around in the back of the store until a Chinese man with three thumbs approaches. He will take care of it.”

* * *

Back on the street, the becak driver who dropped me off is fitting quick drags on a cigarette into the pauses of a slanted grin, his old time Dutch motorcycle helmet, cocked to one side, seems to be in cahoots with the smile. His teeth look like they have been out too long in a strong wind.

Trying to nonchalantly schlep a lumpy black bag as well as I can, I hop into the sidecar: whether I like it or not, this is a round trip. Off we putter into the twilight, he chattering away and helpfully pointing out every roadside police post along the route. I squirm and try to change the subject; he laughs short bursts of clove smoke at me. Thus was my first experience buying beer in Banda Aceh.

* * *

Aceh is different than everywhere else in Indonesia because in addition to the conventional civil and criminal legal systems, there is an Islamic legal system, called syariah. When the peace accords were signed in 2005, ending the conflict between the government of Indonesia and GAM (the Acehnese separatist movement), syariah’s extension into criminal law was one of the ‘concessions’ that the central government was willing to make. Islamic courts in Aceh have long dealt with issues of marriage and inheritance, marriage, and divorce, but the criminal element was new and the first elements enacted were capital punishment for sexual relations outside marriage, possession or consumption of alcohol, and gambling.

This has presented an interesting situation on the ground because while the Acehnese are certainly some of the most pious people in Indonesia, many Acehnese are unhappy with syariah, claim they never fought for it, and see it as a way for Jakarta to co-opt Acehnese grievances by casting them as a bunch of religious fundamentalists. Many former GAM leaders (a highly devout group), who since the peace have been elected to various public offices, have openly campaigned for an end to syariah.

It seems as if much of the popular disenchantment with syariah stems from the police force that has been set up to enforce it, sometimes known as ‘the vice and virtue’ patrol. In my estimation, most Acehnese already live their lives according to Islamic principles and want Islamic law applied to probate and family issues. These same Muslims though cool on the idea when it manifests itself in yet another wrinkle to the already crooked police/community power dynamic. More than anything, it seems that the Acehnese are pretty laid back people and are no religious fundamentalists and they simply do not react well to anything that results in forced, on-the-spot hair cuts for women caught without headscarves.

Anyways, for foreigners, things are a bit more casual; I think we are expected to behave a little bit like the infidels that we are. Caught with beer, nothing too terrible would have happened to me, perhaps a bribe. I went home, my heart nonetheless beating a little bit stronger, ordered a pizza, drank brews, and watched westerns.