At least fifty of them showed up on their bikes. They surrounded two young waria (biological males who take on a female appearance because they feel they belong to the third gender). They stripped them naked: yanked the wig from one of them and cut the long hair of the other. The men shouted: “There’s no God for you, do not invoke him! You do not even deserve to be born!” while they beat them with a metal rod. When the crowd of aggressors finally left, people rushed to bring help and clothes. This happened in Bekasi, in the Indonesian province of West Java.
This is a shocking consequence of a recent election campaign in Indonesia where politicians are constantly racing to see who is the most transphobic and homophobic.
A social disease
The lastest spotlight shines on Chief Amasrul of the Social Services Agency of Padang who, after a police anti-LGBTQIA raid, detained 16 people to be “handed over” to psychologists and religious figures for “guidance”.
In Indonesia – with the exception of some areas where the Sharia is enforced- homosexuality is not a crime but it is considered a social disease and the Indonesian psychologists’ association has recently been criticised by the international medical community for placing homosexuality among mental disorders.
Exorcists in the field
Amasrul said that social services should “follow up” with the detainees to make sure “they do not repeat themselves” and announced that the local government will cooperate with one of the ormas (short for “mass organization”, name usually associated to fundamentalist religious organizations) to perform an exorcism upon the sexual minorities in the area.
Lucky Abdul Hayyi, a member of the Majelis Mujahidin (Council of Mujahidin), revealed: “We have trained exorcism experts to work within the social services: usually these men [belonging to sexual minorities; ed] are possessed by female genies, which is what many of us can attest to have seen in the perpetrators. Furthermore, waria will be fostered by the military. Hopefully in the near future this program can be implemented in the city of Padang.”
The belief that transgender women or gay men are possessed by djinn (another name for supernatural creatures in the Islamic mythology) is very widespread in Indonesia and for this reason many religious organisations offer exorcisms as a form of “cure” for homosexuality and there even is a TV show dedicated to the subject. Thus far, no state-sponsored exorcisms haven been reported but it is presumed that if no political forces will have the courage to challenge the subject, it will happen soon.
HIV alert
The “war” politicians are battling toward the LGBTQIA people in Indonesia (bolstered by the widespread homophobia of voters) is worsening the numbers of HIV / AIDS prevention. The LGBTQIA community feels severely attacked and, therefore, hides out of fear and keeps them from outreaching health programs and facilities.
Alessandro Garzi
with Pier Cesare Notaro
translation by Barbara Burgio
©2018 Il Grande Colibrì
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