A CITY in Indonesia's Islamic law stronghold of Aceh will ban women passengers from straddling motorbikes, describing the position as "improper".
The move comes after leaders from the country's only province ruled under strict sharia law drafted a series of new bills, including banning women from wearing tight trousers, and allowing the stoning of adulterers and the flogging of homosexuals.
Under the new law, women in Lhokseumawe city, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, will have to sit "side-saddle" with their legs dangling off to one side.
"Women sitting on motorbikes must not sit astride because it will provoke the male driver. It's also to protect women from an undesirable condition," Mayor Suaidi Yahya told AFP on Wednesday. [AAP] Read more
