The 鈥淟GBT panic鈥 in Indonesia continues. After , religious leaders and Indonesian politicians are now going after a much more serious target – .
On Sunday, Tengku Zulkarnain, the secretary general of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Indonesia鈥檚 top clerical body, declared that the UNDP鈥檚 鈥淏eing LGBTI in Asia鈥 initiative would destroy Indonesian culture.
“We are not a primitive nation or a nation that does not have a culture. The values of the noble nation of Indonesia will be destroyed [by this program], our religious and cultural values,” Zulkarnain told .
He justified his statement by repeating the same things most Indonesian leaders use to justify their hatred of LGBT individuals: that all religions reject LGBT individuals () and that Indonesian culture reject all elements of LGBT (from a historical perspective, ).
“(If the UNDP funding is true) it means that they are deliberately seeking to destroy Indonesia in terms of religion and culture,鈥 Zulkarnain said.
Chairman of House Commission VIII Saleh Partaonan Daulay echoed Zulkarnain鈥檚 comments, saying that the UNDP funds should not be directed towards Indonesia because all religions and cultures in Indonesia reject LGBT.
鈥淭he UNDP cannot equate Indonesia with other countries. Indonesia is special. Our religion and culture are very different. It should not to be confused with other countries,” the PAN politician told reporters on Saturday as quoted by .
Saleh then urged the government to carefully oversee the UNDP initiative since it could cause 鈥渟ocial unrest鈥.
It鈥檚 easy to see why this would become a hot button issue in the Indonesian media since it smacks of 鈥渇oreign cultural imperialism鈥. But the UNDP鈥檚 program was actually started back in 2014, and somehow it was not an issue (and it certainly didn鈥檛 cause any social unrest) until the recent moral panic over gay rights made it one.
Religious and political leaders are also acting as if the UNDP鈥檚 funds are going towards some sort of 鈥済ay recruitment鈥 program that has the goal of turning all of Indonesia鈥檚 kids gay.
As outlined on , 鈥淭he Being LGBTI in Asia鈥 initiative is aimed at 鈥渁dvancing the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and reducing inequality and marginalization on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity鈥.
Specific goals of the initiative are to help LGBT individuals know their rights and have access to justice to report human rights violations.
So the UNDP鈥檚 program is simply aimed at protecting members of the LGBT community, who are among the most persecuted and marginalized in all of Indonesian society (and increasingly so) and .
As If MUI and the Indonesian politicians condemning the UNDP’s initiative want to say that LGBT individuals should have no rights and should not be given the protection afforded to them by the Indonesian constitution as Indonesian citizens, then just say that. But don鈥檛 pretend this is聽some kind of cultural imperialism.
