Today, March 26, was to be the start of the fourth regional conference of the Asia chapter of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA). The conference had however already run into problems on Tuesday after news of it made the front page of a local newspaper.
The local media had widely reported that the police had refused to issue permits after hardline Islamic organisations vehemently denounced the conference and vowed to ensure the event was truly cancelled, the Jakarta Globe reported. Surabaya is the capital of East Java province and Indonesia's second-largest city.
An estimated 50 to 60 members of conservative Indonesian Islamic groups on Friday arrived at the hotel where many conference participants were staying. Organisers had earlier announced that the conference, which was to be held at the Mercure hotel Friday through Sunday, has been officially cancelled although informal meetings were held on Friday morning in several guestrooms at Oval hotel. Many conference participants who were supposed to stay at the Mercure were transferred to Oval hotel after a 20-strong crowd had protested outside the Mercure on Thursday.
Clockwise from left: Co-Secretaries-General ILGA Gloria Careaga and
Renato Sabbadini, ILGA communication officer Stephen Barris; with members
of ILGA's communications team in Asia: Sass Sasot, Prof. Douglas Sanders
and Jennifer Josef at a meeting in the hotel lobby.
All photos by Sylvia Tan.
Conference participants reading a newspaper report of the conference at lunch,
right: ILGA Asia board member Eva Lee of Beijing-based Common Language
Conference participants, who were in the middle of lunch in the hotel lobby at about 1pm on Friday, were abruptly told by organisers to return to their rooms as they had received word that protesters were on their way to the hotel.
Members of various radical groups arriving at Oval hotel at 1.20pm.
All photos by Sylvia Tan.
Shortly after, about two dozen men arrived at the hotel in several minivans. A number of them waited outside the main entrance while others who appeared to be the leaders of the protesting groups came into the hotel and were received in the lobby as staff laid out two rows of chairs.
According to local sources, the men are believed to be from conservative and hard-line Islamic groups including the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body; Islamic Defender Front (FPI), a local extremist group that is known for violent tactics; and the Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a local chapter of a worldwide network of the same name that is believed to be very active in a number of countries including the United Kingdom despite being banned by many governments.
Conference participants were strongly advised by organisers to remain in their rooms as members of the hardline groups were in the lobby and said to be walking along the hotel corridors.
Police outside the hotel at 3.25pm. All photos by Sylvia Tan.
At about 5.40pm, from the window of a third floor room which overlooked the hotel’s main entrance, several other participants counted some 30 motorcycles that had trickled into the hotel’s carpark in the past four hours. At about the same time, the Islamic call to prayer was clearly audible from a nearby mosque.
At about 7pm, organisers gathered participants in a room and said that they had received information that not only would protesters return in greater numbers the next morning but they might be armed.
A group meeting to discuss options; centre: Joel Bedos,
Secretary-General, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
This image has been intentionally blurred to protect the identity of local participants.
The hardline groups had not only demanded for the conference to be cancelled but for attendees to leave the country. A participant who was outside the hotel reported seeing at least dozens of protesters three blocks away from the hotel at 5pm. At about 8pm, the number of protesters outside the hotel had thinned considerably and by 10.30pm, at least half of the estimated 80 or so participants had left the hotel with all their personal belongings. There were conflicting reports as to whether the police was willing to guarantee the safety of the participants should they remain in the hotel as some local activists shared that it was not beyond members of radical groups to conduct “raids” of hotel rooms as it had occurred in another city. Poedjianti Tan, the head organiser from Surabaya-based Gaya Nusantara, the longest-running gay rights advocacy group in the country and host of the conference told Fridae that she did not expect the situation to unfold the way it did. “I’m very shocked,” she paused as she regained her breath after having been juggling calls on her mobile phone and the room phone non-stop for several hours as her colleagues and her worked to find participants alternative accommodation for the night and secure transportation while negotiating with the police. She said that the police had already given their approval for the conference to be held however the document bore the wrong date. The document was to be amended by the police and collected early in the week but before they could do it news of the conference made the front-page of a local newspaper on Tuesday. “The problem is the newspaper articles,” she said. Surabaya as she knows it has been tolerant of LGBT-related issues and events. The city has seen three annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia events with the last being held in a public park with entertainment provided by gay and transgendered performers. The Q(ueer) Film Festival had also toured Surabaya annually since 2007 holding screenings of LGBT-themed films at public cinemas without incident. Although Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, it is a secular state and homosexual acts are not punishable by law.
Sass Sasot (Manila, Philippines) with Eva Lee (Beijing, China) who's
taking a breather after having spent the last hour going door to door
to inform participants of the latest developments. All photos by Sylvia Tan.
The reporter's stay was sponsored by the Mercure Surabaya.
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Protest from any hardline group could lead to a life threat. I wish all participants of the ILGA conference be safe and stay alert in every step of their way now.
Tell me again how you spell the word 'hypocrite'
You said it right alright!
Don't spend your pink dollar to any of this Muslim fucked country anymore, NEVER !!!!
I really ponder, how gay Muslim can reconcile with this sick religion??
For Christian, Anti-gay is not from Jesus, but from Old testaments and Paul of Rome.
But for Muslim???
(Hey, I'm too tired to wade in with one of my more usual halfway thought out comments!)
I note that some christian religion are also anti gay.
What wrong with them all . It love their neighbour is the general theme of both christains and muslims.... some times I just give up
mmmmmm
This is all I have to say to all the Muslim extremists, bring your extremist activities to Australia and I will personally kick your asses.
Besides, the conference was about Human Rights. If it was held in Bali, it would just strengthen the portrayal of a hedonistic lifestyle and makes the work of LGBT organization in Indonesia much more difficult if it was portrayed that way.
that hardline muslim extremist (not all muslim people) ruins everything in indonesia, not only for gays/lesbians.
yeah, sadly but true...
i wish that stupid f*ckin hardline extremist just dont exist in indonesia!!!!
just not like another muslims in here, or peoples in here. I think that just not in surabaya, they have a member in around of indonesia (may be in world). So.. I think bali its the answer for this confrc, but.. If u would like to vocation andd do some social activities (andd perhaps thats u log in thats in schedule) I think surabaya its a great place. Once a gain I would like to say, I fell so sorry for un comfortable in surabaya.
Three annual event. The fourth is cancelled, something is wrong.
I am muslim, and I feel sad (and mad too) about a few muslim people protest about the event.
Let God judge us for Loving, and let God judge them for hating.
Bravo to ILGA, you have chosen the right place to send the message out loud.
Sorry but I cant respect any religion that encoruages hate mongering and self serving agendas and disguising it as 'god's will' as if an all powerfull and all knowing being would be just as small minded as themselves.
I read somewhere that in Islam's golden age, when it was a tolerance religion, there was great cultural and scientific progress in the middle east. As soon as it turned fundamentalist and intolerant, the middle east went into cultural decline.
I believe this is happening now in the US where fundi christians are spreading their own version of hatred and intolerance. It will happen in Malaysia and Indonesia too if they continue down the road of fundi islamisation.
It does not help those who are caught up in these "civilisations" - but in the long run, I think they will decline. Intolerant, conformist societies will not survive.
think it twice, gay in indonesia isnt illegal, but may be after this they can make it illegal. gee.
thats why indonesia always left behind. because they let all this people control the country. and all they know is, polygamy.
I asked my partner. she's from surabaya, and she says, the GAYA was first founded in java, may be thats why they held it in surabaya.
being Gay in Indonesia is not illegal, but even the government are scared with the MUI (the islamic organisations), oh please, who are they, and why did the government let them to be so controlling. they arent even educated.
we need to ask this MUI permission to sell food, we need to ask this MUI for this and that. oh please. remember when the 2012 movie just released? this MUI was requesting the cinema companies not to play it on screen. meanwhile, there's dozens of indonesian sexual movies around.
and believe me, this is one thing why I hate to be Indonesian and live in Indonesia. those 'narrow minded' muslim is just too sickening.
*YAWNNNNNNN*
Religion is what people believe.. and being "Gay" is apparently the same thing that is what we believe as being who we are..
We are the one who have this (gay) feeling, not them (who are str8)..
We can't force them to understand what we believe and from my personal understanding, Islam never teach the follower to force other to believe what they believe.. They do have a duty to share their believe of what they consider it as "the right guide in life".. but if u dont wanna follow what Islam believe, they SHOULDN'T force, harm or hurt your life.. UNLESS, you disturb and harm Islam community themselves..
What Im trying to say above is that, don't blame Islam itself.. It's just the people who deal with it.. Juz like the bombing case.. Islam never teach that, but just because the people who did that are conservative muslim, we then blamed Islam.. That's really wrong.. It's a crazy extremist people who miscontrued what Islam taught.. If you really want to know, "Islam never teach its believer to do something wrong for a good reason".. It's for the reason that everyone who has HEART and lives in this world should accept the truth that doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still A WRONG THING.. and therefore, judging something is wrong without understanding the real problem for what we believe is right, is also A WRONG THING..
Please.. don't response a wrong thing with someting wrong.. coz we wont solve the problem..
Media sometimes tries to embroider or exaggerate something to provoke fights among different believers.. and therefore, understanding each others should resolve the problem.. if we appreciate what they believe, I'm sure they will appreciate of who we are.. and I'm certainly sure that we can live together in peace.. =)
Bali 80% majority Hindusm so no problem with Gay, lesbian, trans....even the muslim people stay in Bali is OK to us being gay or not because gay is just about our sex preference....not to judge in religion, race, gender,rich, poor, old, young, military, married or....may be King or a President could be a gay....so let we be honest to everyone and talk......
thank goodness i live in canada where gays are completely integrated in society with complete acceptance!
thank goodness i live in canada where gays are completely integrated in society with complete acceptance!
religion has got nothing to do with gay and lesbian thingy. Its the person sexual preferences that matters.
Danseaus, your comment sounds very harsh to muslim community by the fact there are many gays here are muslim too. It doesnt matter which religion you are, by all mean, all religion is against same sex concept, so dont just make some random comment. Unless you dont have any faith and belief, thats your problem.
"Religion is what people believe.. and being "Gay" is apparently the same thing that is what we believe as being who we are.. "
Right in the words "being gay" tell that "Gay is not to Believe". So, there is a big difference between "believe in relegion" and "to be gay". No body say "be relegion", don't you?
And "we don't believe we are gay" but "we are gay".
rite now...gay muslim in malaysia...is increasing..rapidly...n our society....r..slowly...try to accept who we r....but it takes..long time..
im not surprise....that incident..happen in indonesia..coz...they have a lot of...extrimist muslim.....
You're fools if you think these petulent nutjobs who hate and fear us don't exist in countries like China, India, Israel, or even USA, be it religious fundamentist groups or systematic political censorship by the government.
My best wish and prayers to the committee and participant of the event, I am sure that it was a very tiring and shocking day. Given the fact they need to face those barbaric people.
I think if they tried it in Singapore, some christians would def be up in arms doing the same thing.
in other news, is Alice in the new Wonderland 3D flick lesbian?
I'm gay and I am having a wonderful life here, no complaints so far, it's just US who are supposed to be able to adjust to what most people perceive in life in non-gay countries, because we are minority, and there are certain issues we can not or try to break. There are lot other countries in the world, who said they can accept open gay life, but there are still some who are not comfortable around gay people, so to my opinion, it is THE PEOPLE who we are dealing with, NOT the whole country.
So hopefully everyone here is not jumping into conclusion of what our country is in general. There's always room for gay people and we should make the best out of it, according to local situation, culture and acceptance of our existence.
PEACE !
Do they know that there will be a protest of this sort in the first place? Could they have cancelled it or change venue?
Buddhism is a teaching , not a religion so there's no fear neither sexual frustration and insecurity as you find in Muslim and Christian fundamentalism.
-"FBI agents arrested at least three suspected members of a Christian militia group during raids across three states over the weekend.The raids took place in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and were targeted at the Hutaree group which claims to be preparing for a battle against 'an Anti-Christ'."
Also reported is a mass slaughter in the Congo by "The Lord's Resistance Army", a Ugandan terror group.
Look in the mirror guys.
The sad thing is, Islam is not a bad religion. It's just the people who choose to practice it to the extremity. Just like Christianity. Funny thing is, these are the only two religions that declare its greatness in mass numbers and yet, they brought more devastation to the world than any other. It's sad to see people living in this century back-tracking their mentality. When will people start learning that religious books are part history/part spiritual guidance?
Then again, they are coined as extremists for a reason.
it's very offensive and insulting when some of you here blame the 'religion' i.e Islam for everything ... a major misconception ...
yes, i am a Muslim gay but i don't see the religion or any other religions as the cause of this .. ITS THE EXTREMIST PEOPLE, NOT THE RELIGION ... people can use the religion's name in order to do their selfish needs and point of view ...
Its hurtful when some of you here blame the religion .... when they know very well that every religion will always teach the rite and good ones .... i believe in that
pls don't be prejudice in making statement when you don't know whats really happening... you are only making it worst and divide the world ....
although i disagree about the IGLA ...
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