The Indonesian government has ordered messaging apps to remove “gay” emoji and stickers from their apps or face a ban in the country. This follows the latest crackdown on gay rights in Indonesia.
In January, Indonesia’s higher education minister Muhammad Nasir said openly gay students should be banned from the University of Indonesia’s campuses. It was a statement that sparked public controversy in Indonesia for weeks, with objections from human rights groups but support from the Indonesian Ulema Council, an influential board of Muslims clerics.
AFP quoted Ismail Cawidu, a spokesman for the Communication and Information Ministry of Indonesia as saying, “Such contents are not allowed in Indonesia based on our cultural law and the religious norms and the operators must respect that.”
One of the concerns in particular was that the colourful emojis and stickers could appeal to children. “Those things might be considered normal in some Western countries, while in Indonesia it’s practically impossible,” he added.
Technically, homosexuality isn’t illegal in Indonesia (outside of the Aceh province), but it’s still a taboo subject in the socially conservative Muslim-majority country. In October last year, the Aceh province in Indonesia enforced strict laws against homosexuality that punishes gay sex by public caning (100 strokes of the cane) and subjects even non-Muslims and foreigners to the region’s strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Sources: engadget, BBC, Line Indonesia’s Facebook page, AFP via MMO, The Guardian.
