Line Hapus `Stiker` LGBT Atas Desakan Pemerintah, Publik Menentang Kampanye Cinta Sejenis
Indonesia Warns Messaging Apps to Drop Same-sex Emoticons
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
PEMERINTAH Indonesia mendesak pada pengembang aplikasi pesan instan menghilangkan stiker yang dinilai menampilkan hubungan sesama jenis, sebagai upaya mencegah penyebarluasan homoseksualitas di Indonesia.
Langkah pemerintah tersebut untuk menjawab penolakan publik melalui media sosial terhadap pesan melalui aplikasi smartphone Line yang memasang stiker, dengan menyebarluaskan emoticon, dengan tema gay di toko online-nya.
Kepala Humas Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informasi (Kominfo) Ismail Cawidu mengatakan pada Kamis bahwa media sosial dan platform messaging harus menghapus stiker yang mendukung komunitas LGBT, singkatan umum untuk lesbian, gay, biseksual dan transgender.
"Media sosial media harus menghormati budaya dan kearifan lokal dari negara di mana mereka memiliki sejumlah besar pengguna," katanya.
Homoseksualitas tidak ilegal di Indonesia, tetapi merupakan isu sensitif di negara mayoritas Muslim yang berpenduduk lebih 250 juta orang.
Line pada Selasa mengatakan pihaknya telah menghapus semua stiker yang berhubungan dengan LGBT dari toko online lokal setelah menerima keluhan dari penggunanya di Indonesia. Twitter dan Facebook dibanjiri dengan kritik terhadap Line dan pesaingnya WhatsApp yang menyiarkan konten mendukung LGBT.
Ismail mengatakan pemerintah akan meminta kepada WhatsApp untuk melakukan hal yang sama seperti Line.
Bulan lalu, Menteri Riset, Teknologi dan Pendidikan Tinggi Muhammad Nasir mengatakan siswa gay harus dilarang kuliah di Universitas Indonesia. Pernyataannya diikuti kontroversi atas berita tentang pusat penelitian seksualitas yang berencana menawarkan layanan konseling bagi siswa.
Pernyataan Nasir memicu kontroversi publik di Indonesia hingga beberapa pekan, setelah Komnas HAM mengajukan keberatan tapi kemudian langkah pemerintah didukung Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI).
Pada 2014, anggota DPRD di Aceh, mengesahkan undang-undang yang menghukum pelaku cinta sejenis dengan cambuk di depan umum, seperti dilansir Associated Press yang dikutip MailOnline.
INDONESIA'S government has demanded that instant messaging apps remove stickers featuring same-sex couples, in the latest high-profile attempt to discourage visible homosexuality in the socially conservative country.
The government move comes after a social media backlash against the popular smartphone messaging app Line for having stickers, which are an elaborate type of emoticon, with gay themes in its online store.
Information and Communication Ministry spokesman Ismail Cawidu said Thursday that social media and messaging platforms should drop stickers expressing support for the LGBT community, a common abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
"Social media must respect the culture and local wisdom of the country where they have large numbers of users," he said.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but is a sensitive issue in the Muslim-majority nation of more than 250 million people. At the same time, most of Indonesian society, which follows a moderate form of Islam, is tolerant, with gay and transsexual entertainers often appearing on television shows.
Line on Tuesday said it had removed all LGBT-related stickers from its local store after receiving complaints from Indonesian users. Twitter and Facebook had exploded with criticism of Line and its competitor WhatsApp for containing gay content.
Ismail said the government would tell WhatsApp to do the same as Line.
Last month, Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir said openly gay students should be banned from the University of Indonesia's campuses. His statements followed controversy over news a sexuality research center planned to offer counselling services for students.
Nasir's statement 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.
In 2014, lawmakers in Aceh, a conservative Indonesian province, passed a law that punishes gay sex by public caning and subjects non-Muslims to the region's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
