BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — The Jakarta Globe reports that Banda Aceh’s deputy mayor, who called homosexuality a “social disease that should be eradicated,” is pushing for more draconian measures against sexual behaviour that flouts sharia law, including a bylaw that would criminalize gay sex. 
Under the proposed bylaw, gay men and women living in Aceh province would be publicly lashed 100 times.
According to the report, Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal says she was motivated to take action because of a survey last year on at-risk communities and HIV/AIDS transmission rates in Aceh. The Globe notes that she admitted not remembering the “specifics of the survey’s findings” but had expressed concern that some of its respondents said they were gay. 
“If we ignore it, it will be like an iceberg,” The Globe quotes her as saying. “Even if one case of homosexuality [is] found, it’s already a problem . . . we are really concerned about the behavior and activities of the gay community, because their behavior is deviating from the Islamic Shariah.”
Hartoyo, the secretary-general of the queer advocacy group Our Voice, says it’s “sad” that a deputy mayor could think this way. “We’re living in 2013, not in the Middle Ages,” he said. “Other countries have started to allow homosexual marriage, why [come] up with such idea to punish the LGBT [community]?”
Hartoyo also told The Globe he’s skeptical whether sharia police could find enough evidence that would lead to the conviction of same-sex couples under the proposed measure. He noted that adultery under Islam is difficult enough to prove. “To punish the adulterer there should be four witnesses who saw with their own eyes the penetration. How could we find four witnesses who clearly saw that?”
Hartoyo said he’ll probably send the deputy mayor a “warning letter” telling her that “that way of thinking is embarrassing.”
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