Yesterday, we briefly touched on how accusations that dangdut singer Saipul Jamil’s molested a 17-year-old boy was being used as ammunition by a lot of anti-LGBT people to say that homosexuality is intrinsically linked to pedophilia.
It’s one thing when such a glaringly erroneous statement is made by regular members of society who may not be fully educated on LGBT issues, but it’s so much worse and worrying when people in authority take on the same stance.
The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) yesterday also used Saipul Jamil’s case as an example of why homosexuality is wrong and that homosexuals are a threat to children.
“This case, if it’s proven, is real proof that deviant sexual orientation is a real threat for Indonesian children,” said Asrorun Niam, head of KPAI, as quoted by Vivanews.
Asrorun added that the case was further proof that homosexuals need to be rehabilitated and cured for children’s safety.
It’s especially disappointing to see the KPAI equating homosexuality with pedophilia. Given that they handle countless molestation cases, shouldn’t KPAI know better that pedophiles can be – and mostly have been, in Indonesia at least – heterosexual too?
Take this article from Beritagar, which reported on five quite high-profile cases of violence against children in October 2015. Of the five, two of them were murders, and the other three were heterosexual sexual abuse.
By KPAI’s logic then, we should also rehabilitate heterosexual pedophiles so we can cure them of their heterosexual-ness instead of their lust for children.
Meanwhile, the police have named Saipul Jamil a suspect in the case, with the dangdut singer himself having admitted to molesting the 17-year-old victim.
