Indonesia: Province passes law punishing gay sex with 100 lashes
An Indonesian province has adopted a new law introducing public floggings for homosexuality.
The Aceh – the only part of the Asian nation which enforces Islamic Sharia law – has autonomous control over crime and punishment.
The new bye-law in the province, first reported last week, outlaws gay sex for both men and women, and for both Muslims and non-Muslims.
The law states anyone engaging in homosexuality should be punished with 100 months in jail, 100 lashes, or a fine equivalent to 1,000 grammes of gold.
Despite international outcry and condemnation from other less hard-line parts of Indonesia, the law has now been adopted.
A spokesperson told Reuters: “We strived to take into consideration the conditions.
“This means to not immediately implement [the law] fundamentally, but slowly until all of us are ready to enforce it.
“Society today must get a good briefing on the application of this law. At least every village must have a special person who promotes this law.”
A law introducing the death penalty for homosexuality in the region was first introduced in 2009, but was vetoed by the governor following international outcry.
Aceh Party politician Ramli Sulaiman, head of the commission that drafted the law, said: “We have studied the implementation of Sharia in countries like Saudi Arabia, Brunei Darussalam and Jordan to draft this law and we are happy with it.”
Homosexuality is legal in the rest of Indonesia, though the age of consent for gay sex is higher than for straight sex.
Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population – but outside of the Aceh, most practice a more moderate form of the faith.
Claims that the law will be implemented ‘slowly’ are similar to those made by Brunei when it passed a law calling for homosexuals to be stoned to death – which commentators at the time rejected as a transparent attempt to dodge international outcry.
