When we think “gay AND Indonesia,” our mind jumps to the serial killer who released a pop album. But now there’s a new horror from the Muslim nation of islands: gays and lesbians face eight-year prison sentences and 100 cane lashes under a new law in Aceh, a region in northern Sumatra that enjoys much government autonomy. On the plus side, it’s better than the fate adulterers, who can be stoned to death.
(Pictured: A public lashing in Iran.)
stevenelliot
we need a Zion and a Neo
scott ny'er
WTF!!!!! Crazy.
Rob
I’m not buying Indonesian coffee anymore.
Jeff
This is horrific and needs to stop!!!
Disgusted American
religion of peace..hmmmm>? WTF..the human race is so Primitive.
Disgusted American
No more aid to that damm country!
RainaWeather
@Disgusted American: Remember, when you condemn everyone in a certain country, you are also condemning those gays and lesbians who live there. So homosexuals would still suffer.
Tommy
@rainaweather
He condemned the religion, not the country.
schlukitz
It’s readily apparent that there are still parts of the world that are living in the stone age, despite being called civilized countries.
strumpetwindsock
Country or religion is irrelevant. If our best response is to just talk about how much more advanced we are than other people then we are just being smug without doing anything to solve the problem.
Since 1990 there were 34 executions of juveniles in the world. Nineteen of those were in the U.S.
Yemen, Zimbabwe, China and Pakistan have laws to prevent these child executions that the U.S. does not.
Also, we have a Canadian company which is actively supporting the genocide in Sudan. Many of these stone age countries continue these practices because their economies are supported by business interests that lead straight back to the developed world – us.
We can count ourselves lucky to live where we are, but better to actually do something than talk about how much more civilized we are. It ain’t so.
How about contacting your local Amnesty International and seeing what can be done to put pressure on
Brian
just a slight clarification, this is in Aceh province only, about 1 percent of Indonesia. There’s been a long running civil war between fundamentalist Aceh and the rest of the country, which is very tolerant of gays for a Muslim country. The treaty that ended it gave Aceh full control of its domestic laws, hence the crazy shariah crap. Most Indonesians would share your attitudes toward the crazy place.
M Shane
My understanding is that Indonesia has been under a very cruel U.S. supported dictatorship run by Suharto who replaced the democratically elected Sukarno from 1968-98.
Because Sukarno’s government was communistic, we supported a coup and Suharto murdered around a million people in a very short period, who opposed U.S. capitalist interests, making the rivers impassable , they were so clogged with bodies. I do believe that the country may be tolerant of gays, however, the Government have generally been brutal taskmasters for a long time, but probably not intolerant to gays as much as socialists.
I often think that other Moslim countries are so antigay because they associate it with our corporate exploitation.
Tallskin
Pfffff, more savage muslim barbarity
strumpetwindsock
@Tallskin:
…unlike the civilized British barbarity that we have seen in Ireland (drogheda), Scotland (glencoe), India (Amritsar, the 1857 rebellion), Congo, China, Germany (the Dresden bombing), and many other parts of the world.
Come on man. I am not denying that it is a shitty deal that is going on over there, but the fact is our presumed civilized behaviour is a pretty thin veneer.
And reducing the problem to labeling them savages does nothing to change things for the better.
Brian
M Shane,
Yes, you’re absolutely right with the history, although it’s a bit dated as the Suharto era ended in 1997. Since then they’ve had relatively free elections which have resulted in a grab bag of presidents, most of whom were slightly crazy, and including one who is strongly rumoured to be gay. Indonesia is now one of the most democratic countries in southeast asia, far from perfect, but not too bad, especially for the world’s largest muslim country.
Dee
Im indonesian, and I don’t fully agree about what people thinking about gay life in Indonesia, One of the statement above is right, Only in Aceh, only one province with very strict muslim laws, remember Indonesia has more than 30 provinces and most of the population live in JAVA island and BALI or Sumatera, even if we are not open to gay life but our laws is not the same what we have in Aceh. And the people in Indonesia are very friendly to all…