Probe into police who shamed transgenders
BANDA ACEH: Police said yesterday they would press ahead with an investigation into officers accused of publicly shaming transgender people in Aceh despite an angry protest against the probe.
North Aceh police chief Ahmad Untung Surianata and several of his subordinates had been questioned by the police internal affairs unit following raids on beauticians’ premises, in which 12 transgender staff were detained.
Officers were said to have forcibly cut the hair of some and made them wear male clothing and speak in a masculine voice. Surianata said at the time, mothers had complained the transgenders were teasing their sons.
The investigation into the raids sparked an angry protest last Friday amid rising anti-LGBT sentiment in the province.
More than 100 people, including Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf and a lawmaker, took to the streets here to support Surianata.
Some beauty shops that employed transgenders had closed down and many beauticians were considering fleeing the province.
Nasir Djamil, the lawmaker who joined the protest on Friday, said: “LGBT is forbidden by Islam. We shall continue efforts to educate them (transgenders) because they are also our brothers.”
Pictures showing a Hello Kitty doll being burnt by the protesters went viral, but it was unclear why the character was targeted.
“I don’t know why they used Hello Kitty. I was only invited to join the rally,” said Djamil of the Islamic PKS party.