The local government of Aceh has asked the Acehnese Sharia Law and Human Rights Office to research into the adoption of beheading as a method of execution to punish certain crimes.
Syukri M. Yusuf, head of the office leading the investigation, said: “We would begin to draft the law when our academic research is completed.”
Mr Yusuf believes that if Sharia law were consistently applied, violent crime including murder could decrease significantly or even disappear.
The province, located at the northern tip of Sumatra, is known for publicly caning adulterers and homosexuals – engaging in homosexual acts is punished only in Aceh, as it is not illegal in the rest of the country.
Residents in Aceh can also be flogged for other offences, including gambling and drinking alcohol.
The minority of non-Muslims who have committed an offence violating both national and religious laws can choose under which system they will be prosecuted.
Many of those who do not believe in the Islamic faith still ask to follow Sharia law to avoid a lengthy court process, hefty fees or jail term.
Consensual gay sex can be punished with 100 lashes, 100 months in jail or a fine of 1,000 grams of gold.
Aceh can practice Sharia law under a concession made by the central government to end the long-running separatist war.
The insurgency ended in 2005, when Aceh struck a peace deal with Jakarta.
The central government has been devolving more power to the region over the past decade, resulting in an increased autonomy.
Religious police in Aceh have been known to target Muslim women without head scarves or those wearing tight clothes, and people drinking alcohol or gambling.
Indonesia is the country with the world’s largest Muslim population counting over 87 per cent of its 225 million citizens among those following the Islamic faith.
The country, with the exception of Aceh, mainly follows a criminal code inherited from the Netherlands, Indonesia’s former colonial ruler from which the country gained independence after a four-year war ended in 1949.