In the Indonesian province of Aceh, women play an unusual role: whippers, or executioners. Whipping adulterers is a popular thing here, and only women can whip women.
Aceh, Indonesia's most conservative state, has given religion supremacy through its semi-autonomous status, a shift that has been particularly dramatic since 2003.
In this land, the behavior of men and women is governed by a strict and slightly extreme set of rules. Between 1999 and 2012, 442 laws were passed, many of which detailed rules on public behavior, such as a solitary date in a park, even if it was just a pleasant conversation, could be considered immoral and punishable by caning.
Flogging, as a form of public punishment, has become a popular form of "entertainment" here. Whenever there is a public execution, especially when women are punished, it always attracts large crowds.
A woman was taken to the place where she was flogged
How, then, can a woman become an executioner of a caning sentence?
They were dressed in heavy gilbs and covered their faces to avoid revealing their emotions in plain sight. Special canes were used, similar to medieval "sticks", to punish violators.
In 2020, Indonesia saw the emergence of a team of full-time female executioners for the first time, an official explanation for the move in response to the rising female crime rate as an attempt to control it.
A guy and a girl get caught on a date on a bench
"The purpose of flogging is not to torture, but to arouse guilt in sinners. The punishment of female offenders by female executioners not only follows gender boundaries, but also reflects a certain logical self-consistency. The head of the Aceh Police Department, Mohammed Rizal, elaborated.
In order to protect the privacy of these female whippers, the local police strictly stipulate that no one should know their identities in order to prevent reprisals from the families of those punished. Only a few people in the police station know their names.
With regard to the frequency of caning, although no official data is available, a report notes that from 2013 to 2015, the number of flogging incidents in Aceh province increased from 428 to 515 and then to 548, respectively.
According to the 2019 budget report, each caning sentence costs the provincial government nearly $1,000, covering food, security, medical care and witness costs.
Women sometimes work in police stations, but you never know if she's the executioner
As the implementation of caning has intensified, the number of moral crimes in 2021 has decreased significantly compared to 2018, according to data provided by the police.
For example, the number of cases of "khalwat" (unmarried men and women sharing intimate spaces) dropped sharply from 90 in 2018 to 8 in 2021. Police attribute this to the deterrent effect of caning, while some social activists disagree.
The woman screamed in pain as she was whipped
Does the romance and intimacy that people should enjoy really need to be maintained in the shadow of a stick?
What is even more worrying is that these are not ancient legacies, but rather the transformation of a country into such a medieval scene in just 20 years.