While being gay is not a crime in Indonesia (except in sharia-enforcing Aceh), a number of police raids on venues suspected of hosting gatherings of LGBT individuals in the last few months have raised concerns about the government criminalizing members of the gay community and driving them underground.
On Sunday, local police arrested 9 men at a hot spring located in Songgoriti, Kota Batu, East Java. Police allege the men were skinny dipping in the pool when the police raided the facility.
According to Kota Batu Police Chief Budi Hermanto, they were acting on reports from members of the public who suspected the men were engaging in a “gay party” at the hot springs. Police claim they were all members of a Facebook Group for gay men in Kota Batu.
They also arrested two men who worked at the hot spring.
The men, ranging in age from 18 to 42, were subjected to, according to media reports, “marathon questioning” by the police. But in the end, all were released after the police said they could find no evidence of any crime having been committed.
“Evidence of the act of prostitution or sexual intercourse was not found, nor pornoaction, because it occurred in a partitioned area. We are still investigating and have asked them to make a statement that they would not repeat their action, and we have recorded their identities,” Budi said as quoted by Detik.
Budi went on to say that the police would continue to answer the concerns of the community regarding illegal practices taking place in Kota Batu and that preventative actions would be taken. He also said that the men had been returned to their families, but implied that they would be expected to leave the city if they continued their ‘aberrant’ activities.
Police also confiscated some of the men’s mobile phones, which they claimed contained pornographic material.
In May, 141 men were arrested during a police raid on a spa in North Jakarta. Most of the men were released, but some were charged with violations of the country’s repressive pornography law. Critics reported the police for several ethical violations for their conduct during that raid.
