Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Sexual minority groups demanded Monday the government revoke dozens of regional bylaws they described as discriminatory.
"Such ordinances are politically charged to please the majority," Arus Pelangi director Rido Triawan told a discussion at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry office.
Arus Pelangi is a non-governmental organization committed to fighting for the rights of homosexuals and transvestites. Also in attendance at the discussion were representatives of women's advocacy group Srikandi Foundation and activists from the Association of Jakarta Transvestites (PWKJ).
Rido said lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transvestites had been victims of some of the sharia-inspired regional bylaws promoted by Islamic-oriented political parties.
"The majority cannot compel with their own rights the violation of the rights of the minority," he said. "Under the 1999 Human Rights Law, it is stated that the rights of the minority should receive priority."
Arus Pelangi listed at least 28 bylaws it deemed to be discriminatory against minority groups, one of which specifically outlawed gays and lesbians.
Critics have warned that the ordinances endanger the integrity of Indonesia, which is multicultural and multireligious.
The anti-prostitution bylaw issued by the Palembang mayoralty in 2004 defined prostitution to include homosexuality, lesbianism, sodomy, sexual harassment and "other pornographic acts."
"Being a homosexual is a personal choice. It is not a crime," Rido said. He added that the government's apparent incapability to give civil rights to the minority groups was regrettable.
Nancy Iskandar of the PWKJ said that she often received reports from transvestites who had been beaten and maltreated by security officers during night-time raids.
"They were tortured, treated unfairly and had no place in society," she said. She said transvestites who fell into prostitution were victims of rapid urbanization.
"They run away from their homes and from the societies who have expelled them. And now they are trying to find a place in the cities," she said.
The ministry's director in charge of facilitating the drafting of regional bylaws, Wahiduddin Adams, said he admitted the government was finding it difficult to control the issuance of discriminatory ordinances.
"Most of those ordinances have not yet been reported to the Home Ministry and the Justice and Human Rights Ministry," he said. It is believed that only a few of the 500 regional bylaws have been reported to the central government.
He said most of the bylaws deemed hostile to human rights could only be revoked by a presidential decree, as most of them had been applied for more than 60 days. A judicial review of an ordinance can only be filed with the Supreme Court before it is 60 days old.