#I realise this is nonsense for 99.999% of people. however

[cuteniarose]

@katkastrofa: *forgets a few OCs when making a list because it’s been a long day, she’s tired and brain farts happen to everyone occasionally*

[sukajunin]

A hypothetical letter to my so-called government

I never thought the topic of the LGBT community was much of a discussion in Indonesia. I’ve always thought it was a generally accepted nature, despite the fact that people don’t normally discuss it in the open. I’ve always thought that people tolerated them quietly (I mean, I’ve seen plenty of waria for as long as I can remember).

You can probably see where the paragraph above was going and yes, you’ve guessed it: I thought wrong.

I woke up one morning to my usual infinite scroll of news articles (as I do) and I came across a particular article that first made me laugh, really hard, then it made me angry, until it left me feeling a little sad. “Indonesia bans gay emoji, saying it could ‘cause public unrest’” … I’m sorry, what?

This isn’t the first time your actions made me wheeze from laughter, but well done. Actually, I thought it was a joke and I had to double check the credibility of the source. No seriously, just check out the full article here.

Now, it also made me angry. You guys choose to focus your energy on banning emojis, as well as furthering the illegality of the LGBT community as a whole, instead of, oh I dunno? Corruption terrorists the economy traffic poverty the environment… Need I go on?

Let’s just put this into perspective for a second: A terrorist attack just happened in Jakarta the month before and the government (you) comes out with a statement saying they will ban any messaging/social media app that does not comply with the local culture. I’m no government official, and I sure as hell have no idea on how to run a country, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that there are more important things to be dealt with.

I’m not saying that the LGBT community isn’t important, when in fact it’s the complete opposite. This truly shows how much our government, as well as the majority of the country’s population, can handle. It shows the rest of us just how much (or should I say, little) tolerance they have. Yes, Indonesia is like 99.999% (not a real statistic, I’m purely exaggerating to make a point) a Muslim population but this isn’t even about religion anymore. Tolerance knows no boundaries.

One of your spokespersons (I think it was for the ministry of information and communication) said that all these apps must respect the culture of this country. Fair enough. But why aren’t they, and the percentage of the population who support this blasphemy, tolerating the LGBT community?

I’m a human being just as much as the next guy is, whether or not the next guy is gay, bisexual or transgender. What gives anyone the right to label someone as ‘illegal’ based on who they love or what they are? Being someone as ‘important’ as the president of this nation certainly doesn’t qualify you to do so. This community didn’t cause the bombings, nor are they responsible for the downfall of this nation. Why would they want to do anything that would make others detest them, when all they want is to just be accepted. To be freed from discrimination.

The government does not gain anything by chopping a transgender man’s hand off, whatever the Shariah law says (what is this so-called law anyway that does nothing except inflict pain on people, literally). Last time I checked, we’re living in the 21st century and how are we still able to get away with playing God?

I said earlier that this piece of news made me react in a certain order and my final reaction is sadness. I get sad from a lot of things: Nicholas Spark novels, homecoming videos and when I’ve reached for the last french fry. But when it comes to hearing about the next ridiculous thing my country has done, it’s a different kind of sadness. It’s a combination of sadness and disappointment that lingers, knowing that I can’t do anything about it.

Now I realise why this isn’t being discussed so openly. What isn’t talked about, doesn’t exist. However, the fact is, it is being talked about now. But I’m tired of listening to people beating around the bush when it comes to talking about someone’s sexuality, “Temen kamu agak aneh, ya?” (Your friend is a little strange, isn’t he?). The quicker we get over dancing around the subject, the quicker we can accept each other and use any emoji we very damn well please.  

I, and maybe the rest of this country, are clearly incapable of changing the law, regulations and other bureaucratic nonsense. So please, for the sake of humanity (and your own reputations), just widen your minds a little bit. Because the only ones you’re kidding are yourselves.

xoxo,

S