‘Moral panic’ targets Indonesia’s LGBT community

JAKARTA, INDONESIA: Indonesian Budi Ahmad used to live openly as a gay man without fear of becoming a target for violence in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation. Not any more.

The country of 260 million is in the grip of a moral panic, with critics saying the vulnerable LGBT minority is being used as a political punching bag in the run-up to 2019 elections.

Hardline rhetoric and a string of arrests have raised fears among the community.

“There could be more persecution and we’re scared that the public might become vigilantes,” said Ahmad, who agreed to speak to AFP using a pseudonym.

The 29-year- old, from a small town in the province of West Sumatra, said family and friends in the tight- knit area have long been aware of his sexual orientation.

But he said the public mood was turning increasingly ugly and he was now confronted with deepening hostility.

“People look at me wherever I go these days. Some avoid me,” said Ahmad of his non-traditional masculine image.

“Now when I go to withdraw money from the ATM, for example, there are people staring at me. It never used to be this bad.”

Indonesia’s LGBT community has always been vilified as immoral.

But the recent police crackdown -- including authorities hosing down a group of transgender women in what they called a “mandatory bath” -- comes against the backdrop of a recent lurch toward religious conservatism.

The shift, led by increasingly powerful hardliners, has dented Indonesia’s reputation for moderate Islam.

Last week, thousands of antiLGBT demonstrators marched outside the capital Jakarta, as some local politicians called for carte blanche to detain and “rehabilitate” members of the minority.

Several mosques in West Java were recently urged by the local government to conduct sermons on the dangers of homosexuality.

And Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organisation -- the 80- millionmember Nahdlatul Ulama -- has called for a clampdown on samesex relations.

Concerns have been aggravated by president Joko Widodo selecting a conservative cleric, known for his disparaging views of the gay community and other minorities, as his running mate for next year’s elections.

A poll this year showed nearly 90 per cent of Indonesians felt “threatened” by the LGBT community, while a 2013 Pew survey said 72 per cent of Indonesian Muslims supported replacing the secular code with Islamic law, which bans gay sex.

“( The elections) could mean an uptick in politicians scapegoating... people for cynical political gain,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Kyle Knight.

“The verbal threats politicians issue can quickly metastasise into physical attacks.”

Police arrested at least 300 suspected LGBT people last year -- a record -- mostly under an anti- pornography law as homosexuality and gay sex are legal in Indonesia.

This month, 10 people described as “suspected lesbians” were arrested in West Sumatra, following the detention of another eight lesbians and transgender people in October.

“This situation is alarming as the hateful abuses by law enforcement bodies... are seen as a normal practice by many people,” said Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director.

Officials are unfazed by the criticism. — AFP