P

eople’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan triggered uproar on Saturday after he claimed five political parties in the House of Representatives had supported a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

However, his statement was quickly refuted by recently elected House Speaker Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party.

“There was no deliberation on a specific bill about the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender community],” Bambang said on Monday.

Zulkifli did not mention which parties had allegedly supported same-sex marriage, leading some politicians to call his statement baseless.

“LGBT is not accepted [among political parties], so it is unfortunate that he [Zulkifli] spoke carelessly and not according to facts,” said ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician and lawmaker Arteria Dahlan.

“Which bill seeks to legalize LGBT relationships? It [Zulkifli’s claim] is baseless. There is no bill seeking to legalize same-sex marriage,” National Awakening Party (PKB) politician and lawmaker Cucun A. Syamsurijal said.

Zulkifli, who is also chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), made the claim when speaking in front of Muhammadiyah members in Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday. He neither mentioned the parties involved nor the specific bill in question, claiming only that the five parties had sought to officially acknowledge LGBT
relationships.

“In the House at the moment, discussions about the LGBT [community] are still heated. In my hometown, cheating was considered a disgrace in the past. At the moment, they are trying to get [LGBT relationships] acknowledged by the state. Men will be able to date men,” Zulkifli said in his speech, a video of which was uploaded onto YouTube and has since gone viral on social media.

Currently, the only bill with LGBT provisions being discussed is the criminal code revision bill (RUU KUHP), which is also being deliberated. But instead of legalizing same-sex relationships, some parties have sought to penalize them.

Debates on RUU KUHP have gone on for some time now, with some Islamic-based parties wanting to extend the criminalization of same-sex marriage from what is stipulated in the prevailing law, which criminalizes same-sex relationships with minors.

The LGBT community has become a sensitive issue in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, with its members becoming subject to stereotyping and increased intimidation.

Many have, therefore, been afraid to reveal their sexual orientation to the public.

Last month, the Constitutional Court (MK) rejected a judicial review petition filed by a group of conservative academicians seeking to penalize same-sex relationships. The group sought to extend the definition of zina (adultery) in the existing criminal code to include consensual premarital sex.

Activists fear that Zulkifli’s statement could add fuel to the fire and further victimize Indonesia’s LGBT people.

Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation Institute (YLBHI) activist Muhammad Isnur said Zulkifli’s speech would surely have negative consequences on both the LGBT community and activists fighting for the rights of the group.

“This would affect us, too, as activists working to provide legal aid to LGBT people,” Isnur said.

Zulkifli’s statement has also been seen as politically motivated, aimed to gain popularity by raising a highly sensitive issue, especially as the country is gearing up for simultaneous elections in 171 regions, set to take place in June.

“It looks as if he is attacking LGBT groups, but it is actually a political move,” Isnur said.

Yandri Susanto, secretary of the House’s PAN faction, denied that Zulkifli made the statement, claiming that the party chairman had simply said that five parties rejected LGBT groups.