Nowhere to Hide: Inside Indonesia’s Invasive Anti-LGBT Campaign
This article was originally written in January 2021 but was never published.
This past January, two men were publicly caned in Aceh, Indonesia, for engaging in a homosexual relationship. The two men, aged 27 and 29, were reported by their neighbors to the Wilayatul Hisbah — Islamic religious police — for having sex, marking the third time this form of corporal punishment was used since the penalty for homosexuality was introduced in 2014. Dozens of onlookers watched as a hooded law enforcer, eerily resembling the Grim Reaper, carried out the floggings in Aceh’s Taman Sari city park; a woman in the crowd faints, revealing herself as the mother of one of the men being caned.
The incident comes as no surprise to Acehnese locals, who have long seen LGBTQ+ individuals persecuted in the increasingly conservative province. As the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world, with over 86% of its population identifying as Muslim, Indonesia’s reputation as a progressive and pluralistic society has come into doubt as it undertakes an increasingly harsh campaign to uproot LGBT individuals in the country over the past five years. The incident has also sparked debate amongst human rights activists and hardline religious groups in Indonesia — questioning whether punishments for LGBTQ+ individuals infringe upon privacy and human rights, and calling attention to a larger national problem of discrimination and violence.
Anti-Gay Laws in Aceh
While same-sex relationships are not illegal in the country, “illegal sexual orientation” is a punishable offense in the quiet, seemingly unassuming city of Aceh — the only region in the country to practice Sharia Law. Aceh was granted special autonomy following a decades-long battle with separatist political conflict led by the Free Aceh Movement, which sought to make Aceh an independent state. Pro-independence efforts can be traced back to the 1970s during President Suharto’s New Order era when an agreement between the Indonesian central government and Exxon Mobil led to the exploitation of Aceh’s natural resources. Backlash over this economic exploitation, coupled with socio-political grievances, gave way to desires for separatism. In order to undermine the insurgency and keep Aceh from becoming an independent state, the Indonesian government offered special autonomy status to the province. The agreement, signed on 15 August 2005, outlined that Aceh would receive special autonomy and that the Indonesian military would withdraw from the province, in exchange for the Free Aceh Movement’s disarmament. This allowed the province to implement Sharia Law, an Islamic religious law derived from Islamic precepts, which forbids same-sex relations.
Following the institution of anti-homosexuality laws in 2014, homosexuality is a punishable offense by up to 100 lashes in Aceh, even for non-Muslim offenders and foreigners — though non-Muslim offenders can choose to be punished under the Indonesian Criminal Code instead of regional Sharia Law. The regional criminal code in Aceh applies to Islamic sins such as zina (adultery and premarital sex), liwath and musahaqah (male and female homosexuality), and qadzaf (falsely accusing someone of adultery). The first time corporal punishment was used against gay sex was in 2017 when two Indonesian men aged 20 and 23 were sentenced to 85 lashes for engaging in a sexual relationship. Their relationship was brought to light when neighborhood vigilantes broke into their rented room and caught them having sex. A common practice in the province to uncover illegal LGBTQ activity, religious police and vigilantes will often raid private spaces — trespassing into people’s homes and workplaces — and detain those suspected of engaging in homosexual activity. In 2018, police in North Aceh raided a hair salon and detained twelve transgender individuals who were then stripped, beaten, forced to cut off their hair, and ordered to change into masculine clothing.
The Anti-LGBT Crackdown in Indonesia
Unfortunately, anti-LGBT sentiment is a national phenomenon that harms those outside of Aceh as well. Indonesia’s nationwide crackdown on LGBT rights began in 2016 when several Indonesian politicians began publicly condemning the country’s discreet LGBT community. In January, the Minister of Research and Education at the time, Muhammad Nasir, stated that he wanted to ban a student organization at the University of Indonesia that offered counseling services for LGBT students, and criticized the LGBT community for “[corrupting] the morals of the nation.” The following month, the Minister of Defense, Ryamizard Ryacudu, equated the increased LGBT presence in Indonesia to a proxy war that was “more dangerous than an atomic bomb”. Ryacudu, who formerly served as the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian army, said “[The LGBT community] is dangerous because we can’t see who our enemies are. Anyone can be brainwashed.” At a seminar on maternal health, one Indonesian mayor even claimed that “giving instant noodles and formula milk to babies could make them gay”.
Soon, mainstream religious groups and non-governmental organizations in Indonesia echoed the anti-LGBT rhetoric. The country’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, announced it would not recognize LGBT groups because they were “incompatible with human nature,” further pressuring the Indonesian House of Representatives to categorize homosexuality as a crime and force members of the LGBT community to undergo “rehabilitation.” The belief that rehabilitation can cure homosexuality — or that homosexuality can be “cured” at all — is a harmful sentiment that was endorsed by the Indonesian Psychiatric Association (PDSKJI), which classified homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexualism as mental disorders that could be cured through “proper treatment”.
A report from Human Rights Watch found that the anti-LGBT rhetoric of 2016 manifested into increased hostility towards LGBT individuals from their families and surrounding communities, as well as increased threats and attacks on LGBT organizations, activists, and individuals. The report notes how anti-LGBT violence often occurred “in the presence and with [the consent],” of government officials and security forces who have ”institutionalized anti-LGBT prejudice through legislative proposals” instead of upholding international human rights standards and basic human decency.
An unlikely consequence
While the campaign against LGBT rights in Indonesia — driven by politicians, religious groups, and even public health officials — was meant to keep Indonesian citizens from committing “immoral” acts, it has instead given rise to a major public health crisis. Police raids against gay men, attacks on LGBT communities, and anti-LGBT rhetoric has fueled the stigmatization of HIV and undermined prevention efforts. On May 21, 2017, police in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, conducted a raid on Atlantis, a men’s gym and sauna. Although it was deemed a “gay club” by authorities, it also functioned as a public health outreach center for HIV education, testing, and counseling. In 2017 alone, the Indonesian police apprehended at least 300 people based on their presumed sexual orientation and gender identity. Increased fear of police raids, discrimination, and violence has resulted in an uptick in HIV rates in Indonesia, with HIV rates among men in same-sex relationships increasing from 5 percent to 25 percent from 2007 to 2018.
Ultimately, Indonesia’s invasive campaign against the LGBT community is not only a clear violation of human rights but also contradicts the country’s national ideology, the Pancasila. While the Pancasila’s core tenets promote “a just and civilized humanity”, unity, and social justice for all, the treatment of LGBT individuals proves that these principles are not equally upheld. The crackdown in Aceh is thus not an isolated incident of intolerance, but rather symptomatic of a larger, more concerning pattern of democratic deterioration and inhumanity throughout the country. Even though Aceh’s specific legal circumstances make it hard to disentangle anti-LGBT attitudes from the province’s customary laws, it is still deeply concerning that high-ranking Indonesian government officials face no consequences when they make ignorant remarks about LGBT individuals or worse, directly call for violence upon them. The use of barbaric punishments such as public floggings and canings has also raised doubts over whether Indonesia’s commitment to “a just and civilized humanity” is something it takes seriously or simply pays lip service to. We must ask ourselves, is it “just” when someone is tortured for their sexual preference? Is it “civilized” when we invade people’s homes and publicly condemn them for what they do in private? Upholding human rights for all individuals, regardless of who they love, is essential to actualizing the just, democratic society that Indonesia claims to be. Every act of prejudice and violence towards the LGBT community threatens the country’s humanity; we must take decisive steps toward eradicating this discrimination, and we must do it now.
