‘Abusive and absurd’: the LGBTI rights crisis unfolding before Indonesia’s elections

State-sanctioned discrimination and public hostility has struck terror into the gay community as the influence of hardline Islamist groups looks set to play a crucial role in polls next year

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An Amnesty International researcher says the persecution of Indonesia’s LGBTI community is escalating and is not just limited to conservative Muslim areas. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00am, 5 Dec 2018Updated: 1:56pm, 21 Mar 2019

Amanda, who identifies as bisexual, whispers about deep fear and frustration in Indonesia’s LGBTI community. Fajri, a 29-year-old gay cartoonist from Jakarta, says police raids on homes and nightclubs have made for an atmosphere scarier than anything he’s seen in years.

And Papang Hidayet, a veteran researcher for Amnesty International, says what he sees in his once-tolerant country is as worrying as it is irrational.

These are just a few of the voices emanating from Indonesia, where a wave of arrests, state-sanctioned discrimination and public hostility has struck terror into the gay community. Rights groups and LGBTI activists now warn that the situation could deteriorate even further ahead of national elections in April.

“It’s definitely getting worse,” said Hidayet by phone from Jakarta. “The persecution of the LGBTI community is escalating, becoming more systemic and it’s happening everywhere, not just in conservative Muslim areas.”

The motivation behind the anti-LGBTI campaign, which Human Rights Watch has called a “government-driven moral panic about gender and sexuality”, offers little mystery.

The rising influence of hardline Islamist groups looks set to play a crucial role in next year’s vote, and as Hidayet puts it, “religious identity has become populist politics, all politicians are using religion to appease their base”.