The Indonesian province of Aceh has installed a “moderate” shari’a court, apparently trying to appease Muslim separatists. (Hat tip: Dr. J.)

Religious Affairs Minister Said Agil al-Munawar read a decree which establishes the sharia court in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh as part of an effort to curb separatist unrest.

Great idea! That should curb the unrest.

But don’t get the idea this is going to be the kind of shari’a with the stoning and the chopping and the hurting and the getting away with rape. In Aceh, they’ve got a groovy kind of law.

“Islamic sharia in Aceh will be implemented in a moderate way and gradually. We want to project a cool image of Islam in Aceh,” [said] Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh.

Hep, daddy-o. To start with, anyway.

The BBC can always be counted on to take the blind lecturing multi-culti moralist stance, very concerned that “non-Muslims” might get foolish ideas about Islamic law.

He said the province did not want to infringe human rights or gender issues with the arrival of Sharia, which non-Muslims sometimes associate with hardline and controversial punishments.