Sensationalism and appeals to emotion are driving the campaign to outlaw homosexuality in Indonesia, Hendri Yulius writes.
Although attacks against LGBT people in Indonesia in the past few decades have been sporadic and committed mostly by mostly religious vigilante groups, current anti-LGBT attitudes are being translated into legal steps to outlaw homosexuality. Hearings and debates held to date are proof of how gender and sexuality have become a political battleground in contemporary Indonesia.
An Islamic pro-family group, the Family Love Alliance (Aliansi Cinta Keluarga), with support from other conservative groups, has asked the Constitutional Court to change the definition of adultery, rape, and sodomy in criminal law, so as to criminalise consensual homosexual practices between same-sex adults. Some of the experts present in court included representatives of the Caring Friend Foundation (Yayasan Peduli Sahabat/ YSF) – a new organisation offering ‘sexual conversion’ using religious rhetoric – as well as the National Commissions on Anti-Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), and the Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia/MUI).
Significantly, discussion on the cause of homosexuality tends to coalesce around anal sexual pleasure. Perceived as an ‘unnatural sexual act’ and long conflated with ‘sexual crimes against children’ in Indonesia’s history, anal intercourse has been brought to the forefront of the discussion as a way to get lawmakers and the majority of people onside.
The term ‘anal sex’ is by no means a recent addition to discussions of homosexuality in Indonesia. Indonesians involved in same-sex relationships or practices began to identify as ‘gay’ and ‘lesbi/lesbian’ in the late 1970s. The first openly lesbian marriage was held in April 1981. Anal intercourse was also a major focus in the 1990s HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in gay, transgender, and men-having-sex-with-men (MSM) communities.
Anal sex tends to be pejoratively termed as ‘sodomi’ (sodomi)—imbuing it with a religious reference that is often used to condemn homosexuality. This term has been associated with high-profile cases of sexual violence against children. In 2010, 49-year-old Baekuni, alias Babeh, sodomized and murdered four street children, while in 2014, teachers from the Jakarta International School (JIS) were charged with sodomising students. In the same year, a 24-year-old sodomized 28 children and sexually harassed a further 16.
With these crimes associated with ‘sodomy’ in the public mind, it is not surprising to see it deployed in the courtroom in this recent attempt to criminalise homosexuality. Some of the arguments include the notions: that homosexuality encourages children to ‘play dirty’ (main kotor) with each other; that homosexuality is ‘contagious’ and can be transmitted through pleasure and repeated action; and that a boy who has been penetrated once will naturally search for more and become homosexual. Concerns about public health and accusations that gay men are vulnerable to anal cancer are even used to claim that HIV transmissions will imperil the State’s budget, at the expense of providing health cover to unproductive citizens. Lesbians have similarly been targeted for their vulnerability to breast cancer.
A final argument is that anal penetration is ‘dirty’. Opponents in Indonesia’s Constitutional Court even asked whether the act violates Indonesia’s Pancasila—the State philosophy. It was argued that the act is against the principle of ‘civilised humanity’, and that the anus, through its association with faeces, should not be treated as parts of ‘human rights’. In this way a far-reaching interpretation of Pancasila is used in order to convince people that homosexuality is dirty and against the State’s principles.
Blogger David Roberts’ concept of post-truth politics helps to illustrate what is going on here. What matters is not the evidence or logic behind the arguments themselves, but instead the emotions that appeal to the public and to lawmakers. To borrow from Sara Ahmed’s work, emotions are not only psychological dispositions, but also investments in social norms that are accumulated over time. Since sodomy has significant negative connotations, when placed alongside a rhetoric of children and ‘hygiene’ it generates an emotional response that views anal intercourse as somehow ‘jeopardising’ the future of the nation’s children. An emotional appeal to policymakers and the public is therefore one of the easiest ways to convince the public of the immorality of homosexuality, in an attempt to criminalise LGBT people in Indonesia.
Hendri Yulius obtained his Master’s in public policy from the National University of Singapore, and is the author of Coming Out. He is currently pursuing his Masters by Research in Gender and Cultural Studies at The University of Sydney.
Indeed its great outline I thought. Considering sboutvehst really going on and tending about lgbt here. No matter what your race, religion and where dou live maybe I disagree about the lgbt. Some might will say its their right to bring and do what they will. But the most important thing I guess is that : is really okey with your inner soul and your body? I mean let say when you do such a things you like but its commonly only hurts you, physically and pschologycally then its notvrigjt thing to do I guess. When the health and gofness away due to of your pleasants things then I called suiced. To living is not only about to pursue the “happiness” but tend to get the meaning of itself. How you csn be good yo others if you want to be the one. How we interact with the others without doing sarcasm and such get rid is more valuable things values I guess. Then if you have a good faith I do believe that our heart guides us to be a god person and do “right things”.
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It is not up to you to decide what happiness means for somebody else, neither it is up to you
to judge about somebody else physical pain. Pain is as subjective as happiness. When i go to reflection
i ask them to hurt me, so it makes me feel alive.
How many hearts got broken by marriage? It makes people having pain for the rest of their life. Should we ban marriage?
Everybody has the right for love and affection. And if two people fit together in their desires while they nobody hurt,
then let them do. Instead of judging somebody else life, try to be a better person yourself. That’s the only path God gave to you. Let others people free, and you will free yourself.
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Interesting article. Clearly members of the LGBT communities are less vulnerable in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam (yes, some people might not believe this) and Lao PDR than in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is good to have more articles like this one in NM.
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