MUI Chairman: LGBT Practices Degrade Human Dignity

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) KH Anwar Iskandar has firmly voiced his rejection of all forms of LGBT practices in the country, stating they degrade human dignity and threaten national resilience. “This degrades human dignity. We are grateful that the government has issued a Presidential Regulation ensuring that LGBT is part of the threat to national resilience, we must appreciate that,” he said during the Indonesian Muslim Congress (KUII) in Jakarta on Friday. Anwar expressed high hopes that the House of Representatives (DPR) will immediately follow up by formulating a law that legally ensures the prohibition of LGBT practices. He stressed that this is a form of deep concern from the ulama to prevent the Indonesian nation from incurring God’s wrath, similar to the people of Prophet Lut in the past. Echoing this sentiment, MUI Deputy Chairman Muhammad Cholil Nafis revealed that the council is currently finalising the legal basis for the prohibition. “The academic manuscript is ready, the draft law is ready, it will be discussed on the 24th to 26th, after which we will declare it at the closing ceremony. It will then be submitted to the President and the House of Representatives,” Cholil explained. Cholil elaborated that the main focus of the criminalisation formulation is not on sexual orientation unilaterally, but rather on deviant behaviour and campaign elements. MUI views sexual orientation as a deviation that must be cured, not punished. However, the actions to be included as criminal offences under the LGBT law include acts of sexual abuse, intimate relations with the same sex, and openly campaigning for such a lifestyle in public spaces or on social media.