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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police are holding 141 men including four foreign nationals after raiding what they described as a gay striptease performance at a fitness club in North Jakarta.
Activists decried the “arbitrary and excessive arrests” in which officials paraded the men naked at a police station and released their naked photos on social media.
“The 141 people were questioned while naked and moved from room to room without clothes on the pretext of an investigation. Then the 141 people were photographed naked and [the pictures] were distributed via text, social media and news,” said a statement released by a coalition of some 80 organizations called Gema Demokrasi.
The raid and arrest followed established procedures, Dwiyono, chief of North Jakarta police, told BenarNews. “The evidence is quite strong. They were already in a state of nudity when the raid took place,” he said.
On Tuesday, two men are to be publicly flogged in Aceh, where Sharia law is in force, after being convicted of same-sex relations, which are illegal in Indonesia’s westernmost province but not elsewhere.
Cell phone footage of the two men, naked and terrified, circulated widely on social media after community members forcibly entered a rented home in Banda Aceh in late March.
In a statement Friday Human Rights Watch called on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to prevent the “grotesque display of medieval torture” in Aceh.
“President Jokowi has spoken out in support of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Indonesia, so the imminent public flogging of two young men for same-sex relations is a crucial moment to act,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Pornography
The men arrested at the fitness club late Sunday would be charged under anti-pornography laws, police said.
After getting tips from local people, “we finally went to the location and it turned out to be true that they were putting on a striptease for gays,” Nasriadi, chief of the criminal division at North Jakarta Police, told BenarNews on Monday.
The owner of the business, three of his workers and six male striptease performers were named as suspects, he said, adding that one of the employees was broadcasting the show on social media.
“They will all be charged under Law Number 4, 2008 on Pornography, which carries potential penalties of six years in prison,” he said.
All the men present at the location were being held at the North Jakarta police station for further questioning, he said, adding that there would likely be more suspects named.
Two Malaysians, one Singapore national and one British national were also taken into custody, he said.
National police spokesman Martinus Sitompol said the consulates of those countries would be notified.
Gema Demokrasi, the activist group, said the arrests represented an uptick in the persecution of LGBT individuals in Indonesia.
“These arrests are a bad precedent for gender and sexual minority groups.  Arrests carried out in the private sphere may become a reference for further acts of violence,” the statement said.
It urged the national police chief to investigate police deportment in the case, and the media to cease spreading “private data of victims.”
“President Jokowi and his administration should guarantee the protection of the LGBT community and respect the privacy of citizens,” it added.
In late April, police in the East Java city of Surabaya arrested 14 men who were allegedly attending a sex party at a hotel.


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