Muslim hardliners warned for harassing gays in boarding house raids

A hardline Muslim group has been told to take down banners targeting gays and calling for them to leave Indonesia’s third-largest city. The Islamic Defenders Front was ticked off by officials after it raided boarding houses in Bandung where they believed gay people were staying and put up the signs. The group, nown as FPI, claimed it found lesbians “performing immoral acts” and evidence they had been drinking alcohol. “I have reprimanded the FPI for what they admitted they did,” mayor Ridwan Kamil said. “Provocative banners have to be taken down.”

We found five women in one room. It has not been proven they they are lesbians. We leave it entirely as a matter of judicial operations for the local authorities

FPI organiser Tubagus Abbas Murodi

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is largely accepted in Indonesia, particularly in urban areas. But pockets of opposition remain, with a central government minister recently calling for a ban on LGBT organisations on university campuses. In the latest incidents, there were claims that the FPI acted with the help of police and government officials. But Mr Kamil insisted there was no connection and officials only “performed a routine security door to door at all homes” in the wake of a recent bombing.

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