'Delicate Creatures' Illegally Straddle Motorcycles



Illegal Straddler
(Aceh Province, Indonesia)

Thirty-five women in Aceh’s city of Lhokseumawe have been let off with a warning after the Shariah police caught them straddling a motorcycle and not wearing appropriate Islamic dress.

The Shariah police were conducting a raid on the main roads of Lhokseumawe on Friday, to monitor the administration’s bylaw that prohibits female passengers from straddling motorcycles.[…]

Lhokseumawe mayor Suadi Yahya explained that the bylaw was expected to discourage women from wearing pants in public. He said that the bylaw was needed because he had seen people’s behavior and morals straying too far from Aceh’s Islamic cultural values.

“We want to save women from things that will cause them to violate Shariah law,” he said. “We wish to honor women with this ban, because they are delicate creatures.”

If a delicate creature is banned from straddling a motorcycle, she obviously can't drive one. Nor is it legal for a woman to ride a bicycle, I assume.