Criminalisation and Care: Indonesian Muslim Mass Organisations’ Perspectives on LGBT People

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter examines the attitudes of Muhammadiyahand Nahdlatul Ulamatoward LGBT people who have been facing growing hostility from the country’s predominantly Muslim society since 2016. My analysis draws on insights from the discourse of criminalisationand care that has characterized the debate over sexual and gender minorities in Indonesia. This chapter, drawing on interviews and desktop research, demonstrates that the Muslim mass organisations Muhammadiyahand Nahdlatul Ulama display ambivalent attitudes between criminalisationand caretowards LGBT people. Focusing on Muhammadiyah and their autonomous women’s organisation Aisyiyah it argues that the organisations` leaders at the national level are more inclined to criminalise sexual and gender minorities, while at the regional level they are more likely to practice care for minorities, through equal cooperation and interpersonal relations. One reason for this difference is the distance or proximity to the people concerned. Those in charge at the national level are far away from the grassroots, while those at the regional level work more closely with the people.