MUI Prepares Academic Draft for Bill Criminalising LGBT Acts Despite Rejection by 37 Institutions

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is currently drafting an Academic Paper and a Bill on the Criminalisation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) acts to be proposed for the National Legislation Programme (Prolegnas) at the House of Representatives (DPR RI). MUI Deputy Chairman KH M Cholil Nafis asserted that this legal step is being taken because moral appeals are deemed no longer effective in curbing the phenomenon of sexual deviance, which is increasingly displayed openly in public spaces. He stated that the party remains committed to opposing and fighting against the behaviour and those who campaign for LGBT. “For the sake of our love for true humanity, we invite them to return to their natural disposition. We are preparing the academic draft and the criminal bill; it is now up to the DPR to discuss and enact it,” said the cleric, familiarly known as Kiai Cholil, as quoted from the official MUI website. Kiai Cholil highlighted a shift in the behaviour of LGBT groups today. Whereas in the past perpetrators of sexual deviance tended to hide out of shame, now they appear proud and even dare to openly hold same-sex events or parties. Ironically, members of the public who reprimand them are often labelled as intolerant. “This is already misguided,” said the caretaker of the Cendekia Amanah Islamic Boarding School in Depok, West Java. Therefore, he said, mere appeals are insufficient. Binding legislation that allows for firm action must be enacted. MUI emphasised that the future law will not criminalise a person’s ‘sexual orientation’ that remains in the mind, but will focus on deviant acts (perpetrators) and campaigning activities. “If it is orientation, we do not call it a crime because orientation is just in the mind. So what we call criminal is the perpetrator,” he said.