Lesbian Gay Biseksual and Transeksual (LGBT) Polemic in Indonesia: A Study of the Opinion of the Indonesian Ulama Council and the Liberal Islam Network (JIL)

Headnote

ABSTRACT

The LGBT issue re-emerged in Indonesia and has become a warm polemic in society, this issue has split the community into two groups, the supportive and the rejecting groups. Each side expressed their views on this issue with different reasons and approaches. The two most distinct groups of differing views on this issue are the Indonesian Ulama Council and the Liberal Islam Network. This study examines the evolutionary thinking dynamics among LGBT Indonesian Muslim scholars, with the aim of understanding the basis, approach and reasons used by each in determining opinions about LGBT behavior. The approach used in this study is descriptive comparative, namely the type of research used to compare between two groups or more than a certain variable. As for the conclusion of this study that MUI strongly opposes LGBT behavior under the pretext of contradicting the Qoran-Hadis and human nature created in pairs. While JIL groups support LGBT under the pretext of sexual preference and human rights.

Keywords: LGBT, Polemic, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulama Council, Liberal Islam Network

ABSTRAK

Isu LGBT muncul semula di Indonesia dan menyebabkan polemik hangat dalam kalangan masyarakat. Isu ini telah membahagikan masyarakat kepada dua kumpulan, iaitu kumpulan sokongan dan kumpulan penolakan. Setiap kumpulan mempunyai pandangan, alasan dan pendekatan berbeza dalam melihat tingkah laku LGBT. Dua kumpulan yang paling kontras dengan pandangan yang berbeza mengenaiperkara ini ialah Majlis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) dan Jaringan Islam Liberal (JIL). Kajian ini ingin melihat dinamika pemikiran intelektual Muslim Indonesia mengenai LGBT untuk memahami landasan, pendekatan dan juga alasan yang digunakan oleh setiap pihak dalam memahami masalah ini. Kaedah yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah perbandingan, iaitu jenis penyelidikan yang digunakan untuk membandingkan antara dua kumpulan atau lebih daripada variabel tertentu. Untuk kesimpulan kajian ini bahawa MUI sangat menentang tingkah laku LGBT kerana ia dianggap bertentangan dengan al-Quran dan Hadis dan sifat manusia yang dibuat secara berpasangan. Adapun JIL menyokong tingkah laku ini dengan alasan bawaan seksual dan hak asasi manusia.

Kata kunci: Polemik; LGBT; Indonesia; Majelis Ulama Indonesia; Jaringan Islam Liberal

INTRODUCTION

In the globalization era human is faced with a variety of actual issues that are interesting to be discussed, both in informal speech frames and in official contexts using scientific rules. One of them is the issue of lesbian,...