Video source: MyNewsHub
Two gay men in Indonesia are facing punishment by caning, at a time when moderate Indonesia is becoming more and more radical in its practice of Islam.
The men were allegedly detained by anti-gay vigilantes, and a cell-phone video taken at the scene shows the vigilantes slapping, kicking and insulting them.
If the two are convicted, each will be caned and receive 100 public lashings.
The tape of the detainment of the two gay men shows one huddled in a corner on his cell phone pleading with a friend for help as vigilantes raided the apartment where the two men were having sex.
“Brother, please help, please help, please help us,” the man is heard pleading.
The Incident occurred in Aceh, a province that is under Islamist Sharia law, which is a separate legal code from the rest of the country of 250 million mostly Muslims.
The incident comes at a time when the world’s largest Muslim nation by population is being hijacked by radical Islamists.
While the majority of Indonesians remain moderate Muslims – many say they are Muslims but don’t attend mosque and are not particularly religious – a radical form of Islam is creeping into the population.
Jakarta’s mayor, known as Ahok, a Christian and ethnic Chinese minority, is currently on trial for blasphemy, after making what opponents have called an inaccurate reference to the Koran.
Ahok’s statement sparked massive protests in Jakarta by Islamist rabble demanding that he be tried for blasphemy. Many observers said the mayor committed no crime, and contend that the judiciary has bent to the will of the mob. Ordinary Indonesians wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg, and whether Islamists will be emboldened by the fact that they were able to pressure the courts by throwing a temper tantrum.
One reason for the slow but sure increase in radical sentiments is the growing influence of Saudi Arabia – the godfather of radical Islamist ideology and the world’s biggest exporter of Islamist-inspired hatred. The nation is to Islam what propaganda mastermind Joseph Goebbels was to the Nazis – providing justification for beheading for the so-called crimes of adultery, homosexuality, and having a different interpretation of Islam than the one the government officially espouses. Critics of the Saudis say the only difference between them and terror group ISIS is that the Saudis have palaces.
American Muslim reformer frets over spread of radical Islam in Asia
Saudi Arabia’s influence is felt not only in Indonesia, but all over Asia. In Jakarta, the Saudi government is expanding a free university where radical interpretations of the Koran are taught. LINK. In neighboring Malaysia, the Saudi government is financing radical imams at a time when Malaysia is banning music that it deems “un-Islamic.”
In Surabaya, the nation’s second largest city, a radical Islamist political group last Christmas season paraded through local shopping malls in a bid to intimidate any shop in which employees wore Santa hats. Christmas is a popular celebration in Indonesia – some women even wearing festively colored red and green hijabs on Christmas day – although the more commercial aspect is celebrated, rather than the religious one.
Gay rights groups in Indonesia have told Borderless New Online that the authorities are ratcheting up pressure on their community, and groups such as Human Rights Watch have in recent years blasted Indonesia for growing discrimination against gays. Indeed, starting in January, 2016, several Indonesian officials have made anti-gay statements in public, which has led to increased violence and threats against individuals in the nation’s LGBT community.
Marzuki Ali, who head investigations for the Sharia police, said the vigilantes who detained the two men were neighbors who were suspicious of the couple.
The practice of caning – beating on the back with a large stick, which can cause permanent physical and psychological scaring – is used as a form of punishment in Aceh promise of so-called crimes including homosexuality, adultery and fornication.
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