Dehumanizing Gays in Indonesia
"If the psychologist declares that a candidate has a deviant sexual orientation, certainly the school will not hire that person."The examination question required a simple 'agree' or 'disagree'. Its wording was: "I would feel uncomfortable knowing my daughter's or son's teacher was homosexual". And another true-or-false question: "The gender composition of an orgy would be irrelevant to my decision to participate".
Waadarrahman, official, Ministry of Education and Culture, Jakarta, Indonesia
"Psychologists cannot discriminate on the basis of sexuality."
"Every day they [homosexuals] have to hide from a society that judges them badly."
Ha H. Misbach, psychologist, Bandung
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| Students at an Islamic school in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia (Ed Wray/Getty) |
Some schools in Indonesia have recently confronted foreign teachers to answer questions such as those above, in what is being spoken of as a psychological test, with the goal to determine their sexual orientation and attitude toward gay rights. International schools in Muslim Indonesia are prohibited by a 2015 government regulation from hiring foreign teachers who have "an indication of abnormal sexual behaviour or orientation".
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people are increasingly facing hostility across Indonesia, which despite being the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, once had a reputation for tolerance. Islamism, which has swept through Islamic countries globally -- with its political focus on fundamentalist Islam -- has reached Indonesia. Islam condemns homosexuality and any deviance from what is considered gender normatives.
While still officially secular, with the weight of the world's largest Muslim population, the Indonesian parliament in September wavered on passing an overhaul of the criminal code where gay and lesbian relations would be outlawed. Though it failed to pass at the time, expectations are that the proposal will be renewed in 2020.
The Child Protection Agency in Bekasi Regency, adjoining Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, identified four thousand people who suffer from the "disease" of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Mohamad Rojak, the agency commissioner stated that "sexual disorientation" was caused by "carefree lifestyles", urging those on the list to overcome their condition through "therapy".
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| Photo: YouTube – AFP News Agency |
Job applicants for the office of Indonesia's attorney general responsible for enforcing laws against discrimination, noted on its website in November that job applicants must not have "sexual orientation disorders". While not illegal in Indonesia other than in the autonomous province of Aceh, Homosexuality is now in the cross-hairs of the new vice-president who supports criminalization.
In 2014, a Canadian educator and six Indonesians were accused of sexual abuse of students at the prestigious Jakarta International School. Hugely questionable evidence was used to convict them all; even a claim that the Canadian had made use of magic so the crime scenes would be invisible. The testing regulation applies to 168 schools which are required to have a psychologist certify each teacher does not suffer from a behaviour disorder or an "above-normal sexual orientation".
No standardized exam exists, each of the schools must hire a psychologist to conduct the certification process. At one of the schools administering the required test in Jakarta, an assortment of behavioural questions required responses, at least 38 of which dealt with sexual orientation and attitudes toward gay rights. Psychologist Ha H.Misbach declined the request by a school to prepare such an exam, on the basis of unacceptable attitudes in Indonesia considering homosexuality a choice, not a characteristic determined by birth.
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| Foreign teachers at Indonesian private schools are being forced to take tests to determine their sexual orientations and attitudes towards LGBTQ rights in what has been described as a psychological exam. |
Labels: Discrimination, Homosexuality, Indonesia, Islamism
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, February 15, 2020
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