Subject: Indonesia: Gay election candidate underlines emerging political freedoms
From: "Dede Oetomo" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 06:54:11 +0700

SOURCE: 
South China Morning Post, June 1, 1999
Hong Kong
(E-MAIL: [email-masked] ) ( http://www.scmp.com/news/ )

Indonesia 
Gay election candidate underlines emerging political freedoms 
JENNY GRANT in Surabaya.

     Dede Oetomo is not a typical Surabaya resident - he is an 
agnostic, gay, 
ethnic Chinese and a parliamentary candidate for the country's most 
radical 
democratic socialist party.
     As the East Java representative for the People's Democracy Party 
(PRD), 
Dr Oetomo exemplifies the new outspokenness of Indonesians in these 
elections.
     If he wins a seat in Parliament, Dr Oetomo says he will push for 
the 
rights of gays and lesbians, promote land reform for poor farmers and 
try to 
organise the city's thousands of sex workers.
     "We can wait 100 years until the sociological condition is ready, 
but by 
then I will be dead," said the 45-year-old, a doctor of sociology at 
Airlangga University.
     He said he drew inspiration from PRD members who were kidnapped 
last 
year and those, like party chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko, who were still 
in 
jail.
     "The small talk in the party is, 'What was your torture like?'  
It's 
weird, it's almost macabre, but it also strengthens us," he said, 
surrounded 
by an antique plate collection in his home.
     He believes the party can win 10 seats nationally, even though it 
has 
only 600 core cadres.
     Dr Oetomo opened the first Aids hotline in Indonesia back in the 
early 
1990s when discussion of the disease was taboo.
     He set up the country's first public gay, lesbian and transgender 
network in Surabaya, which has a strong transvestite culture known as 
wariah.
     But his partner comes from a traditional Islamic background and 
supports 
a competing political party.  Dr Oetomo is representing a party that 
only 18 
months ago was branded a dangerous communist organisation.
     "We can show people it is safe to join radical parties like the 
PRD," he 
said.
     His latest election effort is giving voter education to sex workers 
in 
the city's brothel areas.
     Although Dr Oetomo's ideas are cutting edge for Indonesia, some of 
his 
greatest fans are conservative Muslim teachers.  One of Java's most 
esteemed 
preachers, Kyai Wahid Zaini, was a doctoral student under him.
     The traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama organisation has invited him to 
its 
national seminar later in the year to speak on sexuality.

* To join list,
E-mail:  < [email-masked] >  with  "join"  in subject line.

* To leave list, 
E-mail: < [email-masked] > with "unsubscribe" in subject line.

- Donations: If you have found this service useful, we hope that you 
will
help us
continue. If you can make any donations (however small), to help cover 
the
costs involved in providing you with this service, they would be very 
welcome.
Please address your check/money order to Graham Underhill, and mail it 
to: 
P O BOX 2214T
GPO Melbourne,
Victoria, 3001,
Australia.