THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Despite covering up, Courtney Trenwith finds herself the centre of attention in Indonesia's only province that applies sharia law.
An hour after arriving in the capital of Indonesia's only non-secular province, I stepped out of a black SUV-style taxi at the mouth of a sleepy little market. I was wearing a long grey dress and cardigan, with a white pashmina draped over my head, across my shoulders and neatly tucked under my chin. I felt confident, impenetrable and, ironically, elegant.
“Psst, lady, lady,” Achenese men called from the back of tooting motorcycles.
Were Muslim men seeking my attention?
I ignored the jeers and entered the market with my five Australian female friends, who were similarly covered up. Men and women came rushing from the rear of their stalls and emerged from side streets. Many, mostly men, enthusiastically - desperately - beckoned us into their tiny shops.
“Pretty. Beautiful,” they said.
The surprising sense of confidence I had felt since changing into this unfamiliar attire during a stop-over at Kuala Lumpur airport, quickly diminished.
It seemed my pale hands and face – the only bare parts of my body - had revealed my true origins – a place somewhere far from the inherently Muslim community of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Throughout Asia I have become accustomed to my light skin and blonde hair causing much fuss among the locals. I've often transformed from the tourist to the attraction, as men, women and children whip out their mobile phones to snap the strange white girl.
But I had expected to be shielded from gawkers while observing the strict sharia law dress code, including a jilbab (the Indonesian term used for a head scarf).
Furthermore, I thought being in a strict Islamic region where it is even prohibited for single, unrelated men and women to stand close together in public, would have ruled out verbal male attention. >>> Courtnet Trenwith | Monday, July 12, 2010
Courtney Trenwith travelled as a fellow in the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre's Understanding Near Neighbours tour.
