Fridae

Indonesia's Prosperous Justice Party, PKS, says it has received a national anti-LGBTQ+ draft from the Indonesian Ulema Council, MUI, and intends to pursue it through parliament's legislative body.

The organisations met in Jakarta on 6 October. An account published on PKS's regional website on 8 October quotes party president Almuzzammil Yusuf saying MUI had handed over an academic paper and a draft titled RUU Pencegahan dan Penanggulangan LGBTQ, concerning the prevention and handling of LGBTQ.

That is a political commitment to seek legislation. The sources checked for this report do not establish that the draft has been formally introduced in parliament, approved or enacted.

MUI's own account of the meeting quotes Yusuf saying a paper and draft were ready and had been handed over. It describes possible follow-up meetings between the organisations' teams and a proposed invitation for MUI to speak to Baleg, the House of Representatives' legislative body. Its account discusses family resilience without naming the LGBTQ proposal.

The party's statement supplies that name. It also records Yusuf advocating action against what he calls LGBTQ conduct and propaganda, alongside guidance, support and rehabilitation. Those are his stated positions; they should not be read as independently verified clauses of the draft.

Earlier opposition

Civil-society organisations had already challenged the national proposal before this meeting. In a letter dated 7 August and published by Amnesty International Indonesia on 24 August, a human-rights coalition urged parliament to reject it and other measures that could criminalise, discriminate against or stigmatise people because of their identity.

The letter called for equality before the law, meaningful public participation and protection of expression, peaceful assembly and association. This was an earlier intervention, rather than a response issued after the October meeting.

For discussion, choose one of those safeguards and explain the practical difference it should make when lawmakers consider proposals affecting LGBTQ+ people. Keep the focus on policy; nobody needs to identify themselves or recount private experiences.

The national lobbying is separate from the Cirebon youth groups' demand for a city bylaw at an 8 October hearing, reported earlier by Fridae. The two developments involve different institutions and proposals.

A party's pledge is worth scrutinising. Assessing its legal consequences, however, requires the actual text and a clear record of what parliament does next.