Jakarta – An Indonesian legislator criticized on Saturday the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for assistance it has rendered to the LGBT community in the country, calling it an intervention in the country's value system.
"The issue of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] is still very controversial. Public resistance is still very high because it is considered against religious, traditional and cultural norms," said the head of the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs, Saleh Partaonan Daulay, as quoted by Antara news agency.
He claimed that the financial assistance to the LGBT movement in the country is triggering a new debate. "It is seen as promoting the LGBT. The UNDP assistance will also be viewed as interference in the country's standards when it comes to values, morality, culture and local wisdom in Indonesia," he said.
Saleh claimed that no religions or cultures in Indonesia accepted LGBT people and so, he said, sociologically they still have no place in Indonesia, even though they are accepted in other parts of the world.
Saleh urged the government to monitor the UNDP assistance and said that according to juridical norms it must not be allowed. Moreover, he said it had the potential for creating social unrest.
Hostile remarks from state officials have raised intolerance of LGBT groups in the country. The police stopped an LGBT-related event in Surabaya, East Java, while the government forced LINE, a Japanese-Korean messaging app, to remove same-sex and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themed stickers from its Indonesian-language store.