THE CULTURAL RELATIVISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF QANUN IN ACEH: THE CASE OF CANING PUNISHMENT OF HOMOSEXUALS IN ACEH 2014 – 2018

Abstract

Aceh is Indonesia's only province that introduces Islamic Shari'a. Before the Qanun was implemented in Aceh, the Acehnese people lived with the environment and values based on the Islamic teachings since the governance of Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607 – 1637) until it becomes the culture and guideline for the Acehnese people in daily lives, also becomes the provincial regulation. Sharia law in Aceh is commonly called Qanun.The Acehnese people accepted the regulation very well since the government applied Qanun as in Aceh as a regulation in 2005, because the Acehnese were accustomed to living with sharia Islamic guidelines until now sharia is the basis for culture in Aceh. Regarding regulations based on Islamic teachings, Aceh has a policy that complements the course of sharia Islam in Aceh. The intended law is one of them is the 2014 Qanun concerning jinayat law, which opposes all adultery. In May 2017, Aceh has implemented the first caning law against homosexual cases. When it is viewed through the view of cultural relativism, the activities and beliefs carried out by each person must be understood based on their own culture. Other people should not say that this is true or false. Similarly with caning in Aceh, which is centered on the Qanun rules. Meanwhile, the Islamic Shari’a that is implemented in Aceh got some criticism across national and international community since this is seen as a rejection of human rights under the international law. The method used in this thesis is a qualitative type of research by utilizing descriptive styles of analysis. The technique used is by collecting the data from the primary and secondary resources. The result of this study is the reader can understand more about cultural relativism through the implementation of sharia law refers to caning punishment of homosexuals in Aceh, whether sharia law in Aceh violates human rights or not and the author also hopes that readers will understand more about cultural relativism towards Acehnese culture and also its resistance towards the universal human rights.