In Indonesia, new penal-code revisions are going through Congress that will outlaw gay sex and extramarital sex. A country that was previously perceived as relatively tolerant as a country with the worlds largest Muslim-majority population and third largest democracy, has felt new pressure from religious conservatives to make this change. Some even went as far to push for “full criminalization” but other members did not wish to do so because their apparent intent is to “protect” the LGBT and at-risk communities by avoiding the general public from taking the matter into their own hands. They have agreed, however, to allow prosecution of homosexual sex and extramarital sex if said person is reported by their partner or family members.
Fortunately, there are people that are seeing this change in law as less of a protective measure and emphasize this change as a huge issue because it is often that LGBT Indonesians are rejected by their families and often fall victim to violence from family members. By allowing family members to make the decision to send them to jail, they are quite literally giving any discriminatory family members the an opportunity to seek punishment for their LGBT family members.
As the article states, there has been a rise in extremism and intolerance that has hit a peak within the last 6 months inciting violence and and discrimination across the country. This backward movement on tolerance is creating fear among the LGBT community as they fear that these new changes will only increase their suffering and the division in the country.