Dede stands up for minority causes

Christina Schott, Contributor, Surabaya

Many people call him the most famous homosexual in Indonesia. Others say he is one of the country's most intelligent people, while some just call him "a very good guy".

But Dede Oetomo has been involved in so many different kinds of local, national and international activities, for such a long time, that it is impossible to reduce him to just one of these descriptions.

Having studied linguistics and social sciences in Surabaya and Malang in East Java and later on at the famous Cornell University in New York State, Dede had already completed his doctorate at 28 and became a professor at Surabaya's Airlangga University, where six years later he chaired the Indonesian department.

But his scientific work was obviously not enough for this agile, yet heavily built man. When he went to the U.S. in 1977, he began to rediscover his Chinese roots by writing a dissertation about the Chinese community in East Java. And it was then, at a time when the gay liberation movement had reached its peak in the West, that he came out as a gay in 1979.

"I talked about this for the first time to my parents in 1974," Dede says. "Although by that time I did not yet understand that homosexuality was not a disorder, that it was not something that had to be treated by a psychologist."

By reading, writing and joining a group of like-minded students at the campus, he learned how to handle his sexuality. And he got the idea to start a movement for homosexual people in his own country: "In the U.S. it was very exciting in terms of intellectual life, but I felt very lonely as a person. I wanted to come back and build something in Indonesia."

So, Dede Oetomo became a founding member of Lambda Indonesia, the first Indonesian gay and lesbian organization and coordinator for the Indonesian Lesbian and Gay network, JLGI. He heads the non governmental organization, Gaya Nusantara, and works as an HIV/AIDS educator.

And he also appears regularly as a prolific writer and human rights activist at diverse occasions. For many years, he has been an integral part of different social justice movements in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

The house of the 49-year-old social scientist in Surabaya already hints at his various interests.

A large multi-lingual library crammed full with antique furniture and accessories from all over the country leads into a backyard with an oasis-like garden and a large wooden kitchen. The working desk of the Airlangga University lecturer is bent by brochures and magazines about language, culture and social topics.

Dede's home serves at the same time as the office and meeting point for Gaya Nusantara, founded in 1987 and which today works with a core staff of nine people.

Beginning with a magazine written by gays and for gay people, which is still published today, the organization offers a hotline, twice a week, for information and counseling on gay issues and increasingly about AIDS.

With the support of international foundations, Gaya Nusantara wants to open a drop-in center in the city and start a men's health program next August.

Also there is the wish to build up branches in other provinces of the country, especially for health education to prevent the spread of AIDS.

"Looking at the new WHO statistics, it is becoming a really serious problem right now in Indonesia", Dede says. "I feel that we have to be more aware about HIV - especially in Surabaya with its huge red light districts."

He says it is not enough just to read statistics or hang banners on the street, Dede demands more practice and less theory.

"Officials and doctors don't go into the field anymore, they just sit around in their offices," he complains. "I am constantly begging our partners to send their staff just for two hours to the streets so that they can immediately understand the interrelations, which are so obvious."

Dede is not the type of man who just analyzes facts at a desk.

"He was one of the very few university teachers who joined the students demonstrating on the streets in 1998," remembers Yus Santos, former president of the Student's Reformation Movement at Airlangga University. "He is really committed to his students and helps them whenever he can."

One example of putting theory into practice is his participation in a new master's program in gender and sexuality at Airlangga University, which is supported by the Ford Foundation and will start next September.

"I am somebody who never realizes the consequences of my actions," Dede says, when describing himself. "If I had spent a lot of time thinking about doing my activities, I may never have done them."

As a very impulsive, talkative and open-minded person, he loves to have a lot of people around him - the more different, the more interesting.

"What really counts is that Dede shows respect for the pure human being. Therefore, it doesn't matter at all if he is gay or not," says Yus, who is himself just going to start a family with his wife.

In spite of his engagement for minorities that don't share much popularity with most of Indonesia's society, Dede has never felt personally discriminated against. He only once received a death threat when traveling in Central Java as a PRD candidate for the 1999 elections.

And even this experience doesn't seem to have terrified him too much: "For the average Indonesian, homosexuality just is not an issue. Conservative people probably would call it a disease or a sin, for their understanding of sexuality might be reduced to having babies," Dede says. "But once you have gone beyond all that, and your family and your friends are already in the know, life is pretty easy here. Maybe easier than in the West.

Dede, who has a very close relationship with his family, lives with his partner, who he has been with for the past 18 years. Despite his good luck, he knows very well that other people are discriminated against. He blames the low level of education in Indonesia as the main problem.

"We definitely need improvement," he says. "To begin with, the resources. To get a good education you have to have good teachers! Maybe we should try to encourage international volunteers to come and train local teachers."