Remarkable News: Indonesia to Make Gay Sex a Crime?
A group of Islamic activists in Indonesia, called the Family Love Alliance (in Indonesian: Aliansi Cinta Keluarga, or AILA), are pushing for an amendment of an existing Indonesian law that criminalizes sexual acts between adults and minors of the same gender. AILA activists filed for a judicial review of this law at Indonesia's Constitutional Court and want authorities to include sexual acts between adults of the same gender. The existing law mandates a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
Rita Hendrawaty Soebagio, Chairwoman of AILA, said a judicial review is needed to stop the moral degradation that is occurring in Indonesia at the moment. She claims that the influence of Indonesia's gay community has been increasing since the USA decided to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015.
The first hearing in the context of the judicial review was conducted earlier this week. This hearing included testimonies from health experts. The next hearing is scheduled to follow later this month.
As in all other parts of the world, Indonesia contains gay and lesbian people all around the nation. However, homosexuality remains a taboo in the Muslim-majority nation where religious-inspired norms and ethics are held high and, therefore, homosexual tendencies are better left a secret to the wider public. Earlier this year, Indonesia's gay and lesbian community as well as human rights activists faced a setback when the Indonesian government ordered all instant messaging providers that are active in Indonesia - for example Line, Twitter and WhatsApp - to remove gay emoticons (such as same-sex couples holding hands or making kiss gestures at each other).
The government stated that by removing these emoticons it tries to safeguard the local culture and ethics and aims to protect the nation's children from an example of "bad western behavior".
However, it is interesting that - compared to its neighbors - Indonesia is still rather liberal when it comes to homosexuality. Whereas Singapore and Malaysia both declared gay and lesbian sexual acts a crime, homosexual acts in Indonesia are not illegal. The exception is a region like Aceh where - due to the special status of the province - Islamic sharia law has been implemented.
Still, given the socio-cultural context, Indonesia's gay and lesbian community cannot live their lives freely and openly. In fact, on several occasions Islamic hardliners such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a militant Islamist organization, blocked events that were related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (abbreviated LGBT) people under the threat of violence.
Poll Indonesia Investments:
Should gay sex become a crime in Indonesia?
Voting possible: -
Results
- No, it shouldn't (89.2%)
- Yes, it should (7.6%)
- I don't know (3.2%)
Total amount of votes: 157
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