Indonesia has an incredibly rich tradition of GLBTI relationships, but there’s still work to be done. Indonesian activist Dr Dédé Oetomo, who founded that country’s first gay activist group, Lambda Indonesia is here for the Outgames human rights conference, Rainbow Conversations.

Indonesia is one of our nearest neighbours, yet most of us know next to nothing about gay and transgender life there.

Dr Oetomo explained that although GLBTI people are legally protected from discrimination, the Constitution and Human Rights Laws don’t explicitly mention gender identity and sexual orientation.

Unlike Australia and other countries colonised by a Christian heritage, Indonesia never made homosexuality illegal, although in practice “visibly gender-transgressive people” are harassed by police, and by Islamic groups in places such as Aceh and West Sumatra, where Shariah law is enforced.

Waria (trangenders) are generally accepted, pretty much as they are in Thailand. Unlike in Australia, the countryside may sometimes be more tolerant than the city.

“In Central and East Java, for example, rural people may actually be more accepting of gender transgression and homosexual relations, as long as one does not flaunt it and is perceived as a good member of the community,” said Dr Oetomo.

There are also places where older traditions that are more accepting of sexual and gender variation still exist. These sound incredibly rich and complex.

“The best known are the warok-gemblakan male homosexual transgenerational relations in Ponorogo, western East Java, and the four genders and the meta-gendered androgynous shamans called bissu of Bugis culture in South Sulawesi,” said Dr Oetomo.

“Also starting to be discovered are male and female homosexual relations in the traditionalist Islamic boarding schools of Central and East Java.”.  

Dr Oetomo said the situation for GLBTI people was much improved since 1982 when he founded Lambda Indonesia. Now there’s a greater range and quality of community organisations, and better sexual health services.

He says an increasing amount of young people coming out to their families, as well as activists challenging governments, but he cautions that we need to be as well-organised as our conservative opponents to protect any gains that have been made.

In that regard, he looks forward to a change of attitude from the Australian government.

“For people working on human rights, the Howard years were disappointing, but perhaps the Labor administration can be more forthright in bringing up LGBTI human rights issues,” he said.

“I'd say Australians should return to positioning yourselves as Asians and actively struggling with us in Asia in facing some of our repressive governments.”

The Rainbow Conversations conference offers an important opportunity to explain those struggles in the region that are often obscured by the language barrier.

“For non-English-speaking countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China, it is especially important to tell the rest of the region of the thriving work we're doing that is unknown because we're too busy doing the work and just don't have the time to translate everything into English,” he told bnews.

Dr Dédé Oetomo helped found Indonesia's first gay organization, Lambda Indonesia and later the GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation (www.gayanusantara.org), which conducts research, education, public awareness, advocacy, networking, and provision of services in the area of gender, sexuality, and sexual health and well-being.  

by DOUG POLLARD