Why Many Women in the Biggest Muslim Country Do Not Wear Hijab

Indonesian is a nation consisting of people from various tribes, ethnics, cultures, and religions. In facing such diversity, the nation has a national motto “Unity in Diversity” that plays a role as a principle ruling the social interaction with great emphasis on respect and tolerance for people with different identity. Any extreme exercise of certain values of certain entities that harms people of different entities will obviously violate the principle and harm the unity of the nation.

Hijab, the Muslim head cover for woman, is one of the most important values in Islam. However, the fact that the majority of Indonesians confess to Islam does not mean that it is acceptable to impose the obligation of the wearing of hijab on all Indonesian women. There are several points to consider regarding this matter:

First of all, according to Islam standpoint, it is true that Islam requires Muslim woman to cover their heads but this obligation does not extend to women of other religions. In the other hand Islam pays great respect and tolerance to other religions and the exercise of them. There are numerous Qur’an verses as well as Prophet’s words and action, two main basis of Islamic jurisdiction, concerning this kind of attitude. While other religions may not impose the obligation to wear a head cover on women, therefore the compelling of all women regardless their religion to cover their heads while in public will obviously violate the Islamic principle itself.

Secondly, as the national motto Unity in Diversity strongly emphasizes on respect and tolerance, Indonesians are required to respect people form different entities a long with their values. Any imposition of a value of an entity—regardless whether it is religious or not—on people of other entities will obviously challenge the principle. Furthermore, it will endanger the unity of the nation as people of other entities will feel a sort of favouritism and discrimination. In this case, the compelling of all women regardless their religion to cover their heads while in public based on Islamic values will create ‘tyranny by majority’ and will lead to even worse social problems.

Thirdly, Indonesia adheres to Pancasila as the national ideology upon which all the laws in the country are based. The first point of Pancasila states that Indonesa adheres to the belief in one and only God but nowhere in Pancasila points can we find the establishment of certain religion as the national religion. That means that Indonesia is not a theocratic country and thus, the favouritism of values of certain religion over others will obviously violate the country national ideology.

It is probably strange to find that the many women in the biggest Muslim country in the world do not wear hijab but since every country has its own demographic and socio-cultural condition, it is understandable why such phenomenon happens in Indonesia. Furthermore, three considerations above describe well the reasons why Indonesia has no specific regulation concerning women’s public dress code. In conclusion, the idea of requiring women, no matter what their religion is, to cover their head while in public has no place and cannot be accepted in Indonesia.