TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - It is ironic that in a country which proudly diversity through its slogan Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or Unity in Diversity, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) are unfairly targeted and treated, as seen in the recent persecution of gay men in Aceh and Jakarta. The discrimination, also by law enforcement officers, against gay people is escalating.
During a recent raid on a North Jakarta gym, around 100 men, allegedly homosexuals, were subject to inhumane treatment. Photos of naked men, embarrassed and humiliated, were widely shared on the internet although the raid was closed to the press.
It was unnecessary for the police to act excessively. It could have just inspected the site suspected to have violated the law, without causing an uproar. Even under the pornography law, the police can only charge the gym owner as a service provider, not the visitors who happen to be gay.
The law enforcement agency’s unwarranted attitude further pushed the already-marginalized LGBT community into a corner. In 2005, LSI, a local survey institute, revealed that around 65percent of its respondents answered ‘disagree’ to the question about having gay or lesbian people as neighbors. This homophobia indication jumped to 81 percent in 2012.
It is the law-enforcers’ duty to protect LGBTs’ rights. The 1945 Constitution states that every citizen has the right to be free from a discriminatory treatment of any form. Therefore, discriminating LGBTs based on sexual orientations is a clear violation of the Constitution.
Under the Indonesian criminal law, expression of same-sex desire is not a crime. The Penal Code does not prohibit intimate same-sex relations of personal, mutual and non-commercial nature. A same-sex relation constitutes a crime only when it is forced or involves minors. Moreover, Indonesia has long enacted a legislation on human rights, but sadly there is not sufficient protection of the LGBTs’ rights.
In Aceh, gay men are punished publicly. The sharia court recently ordered 83 lashes for two young men in a public caning after finding them guilty of a same-sex relationship. The pair was reported by a group of people who spied on the two men through a crack on the wall.
Since 2002, Aceh has enforced the shariah law which forbids litwath (a same-sex sexual relation), even though the law runs counter to the civil law. The maximum punishment for the crime is 100 lashes. Furthermore, often raised is the 2008 decree by the Indonesian Clerics Council (MUI) announcing that ‘homosexuals’ deserved punishment by caning or even by death.
The sharia law and clerics’ attitude are turning LGBTs into outcasts. In 2013, the United Nations Development Program described LGBTs in Indonesia to be a prime target of human rights violations, often becoming victims of stigmatization, ostracism, and violence.
The United Nations in 2014 issued a resolution to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As a member, Indonesia must respect the resolution not to mention its own Constitution which pledges to protect all citizens against any form of discrimination.(*)
Read the full story in this week’s edition of Tempo English Magazine
