UNDP Assistance for LGBT Community Against Indonesian Law

JAKARTA - Support from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the assistance it rendered to LGBT community in Indonesia recived hard criticized. That intention considered intervention in Indonesian moral value system.

"The issue of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, red) is still very controversial. Rejection (of such tendencies, red) by the public is still very high because it is considered against the religious, traditional and cultural norms of the Indonesian nation," the chairman of the Commission VIII, House of Representatives, Saleh Partaonan Daulay at Jakarta.

He said the financial assistance to the LGBT in Indonesia is believed to be triggering a new debate.

"Besides being seen as promoting the LGBT, the UNDP assistance will also be viewed as interference in the country's standards when it comes to values, morality, culture and local wisdom in Indonesia," he said.

The fact is that all religions and cultures in Indonesia do not accept the LGBT people, although they are accepted in other parts of the world and so, sociologically, they still have no place in Indonesia, he said.

"The UNDP cannot treat Indonesia the same way it treats other countries. Indonesia has its own specifics. Its religions and cultures are very different. So do not treat it the same way as you treat other countries," he said.

Saleh urged the government to monitor the UNDP assistance and said as per juridical norms, it must not be allowed. Moreover, it has the potential of creating social unrest.

"Every foreign assistance must be reported to the state. The state must know what it is being used for. If it is used for something considered threatening, it must be rejected. It applies to any kind of foreign assistance," he said.

The issue of foreign assistance has already been debated before it was passed into the law on mass organizations. In view of that, the foreign assistance from the UNDP for the LGBT community also must not be allowed, lest it runs against the law.

"There are still other sectors that need help, such as education, health, child protection, women's empowerment, natural disaster mitigation in which the UNDP can help. The assistance rendered by the UNDP to these sectors will certainly be meaningful," he said.

UNDP must first conduct a thorough study before deciding to extend assistance so that it would really be useful and improve the capacity of the people. If it would only wish to interfere in the polemic, it is feared it will be fruitless, he added.