Rights organizations have slammed statements from government officials, discriminating against a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LBGTIQ) group, as unconstitutional, asserting on Wednesday that the minority group had their rights protected by the Constitution.

LGBTIQ rights organization Arus Pelangi chairperson Yuli Rustinawati said the recent government officials' statement on banning LGBTIQ people from having their rights upheld had discriminated against Indonesian citizens who were supposed to be protected under the Constitution.

"[The statement] contravened human-rights principles embodied in the 1945 Constitution that guarantees protection for all Indonesians from any discrimination for any reason," Yuli said.

On Sunday, Technology, Research, and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir said the LGBTIQ community should be barred from university campuses as they corrupted the morals of the nation when a university was meant to uphold moral values and the values of the ancestors of Indonesia.

The statement was followed by various responses from other officials, including Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan, People's Consultative Assembly chairman Zulkifli Hasan, House of Representatives member Reni Marliawati and Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil, who all made similar discriminatory statements against LGBTIQ people.

Yuli said such discriminatory statements degraded the human dignity of the minority group and served as a form of hate propaganda that had the potential to trigger more violence and intolerant action against the group.

"A country, particularly its government, is responsible for protecting, developing, upholding and fulfilling the human rights of its citizens," she said.

Yuli added that the President should forbid and stop every violent action that discriminated against the LGBTIQ community, such as the raids and forced eviction from their houses carried out by the police and the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) as well as religious civil organizations.

"[LGBTIQ] did not do anything wrong, but they face sweeping raids. We want the government to stop this," she said.

Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) program director Yasmin Purba said even though the latest data on the raids was still unavailable, the rights groups had received some reports on raids occurring in Bandung, West Java, and Jakarta.

"We are afraid that the officials' statements will act as hate propaganda that will lead to further rights violations against LGBTIQ communities," Yasmin said.

Transgender and Men Who Have Sex with Men Network (GWL INA) spokesperson Slamet Rahardjo concurred, saying Minister Nasir's statement barring the LGBTIQ community from universities had violated citizens' rights to an education in-line with human-rights principles.

The government officials had also violated Nawacita, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's nine development priorities that promise to uphold human rights and legal protection of minority groups, Slamet added.

"We urge President Jokowi to impose strict sanctions on the officials who have committed unconstitutional actions and betrayed the Nawacita," he said.

To anticipate the rising threat, the rights groups has opened a hotline center for LGBTIQ community members who face raids, eviction, violence or discrimination. It has asked them to report to Arus Pelangi on +62-129-333-2150 or to GWL-INA on +62-226-540-3583.

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