Female motorbike passenger in Indonesia? Think twice about sitting in a straddled position or holding onto the driver. A new law in Lhokseumawe, Indonesia, proposes banning just that.
The mayor of a province in Indonesia — the only one that attempts to strictly enforce Islamic law — is saying that safety aside, it’s improper for a woman to sit with her leg spread on a motorcycle.
Instead, said mayor Suaidi Yahya, go sidesaddle. Mayor Yahya told the Jakarta Globe, “We want to save women from things that will cause them to violate Shariah law. We wish to honor women with this ban, because they are delicate creatures.”
Opponents are saying that no Islamic law, called Shariah, forbids women from riding a motorcycle a certain way.
But in Thailand, although modesty is a factor in general, riding sidesaddle is a matter of practicality. Women often wear skirts and dresses in the country, making straddling a motorcycle infeasible.
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Flickr photo courtesy of Szymon Kochanski
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That’s really thinikng at a high level