REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly said the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein asked Indonesia not to discriminate  lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) and intersex people. The issue was also being discussed at a meeting with President Joko Widodo at State Palace, Jakarta, on Tuesday.  

"In relation to the Draft Law on Penal Code (Criminal Code), including LGBT, I will discuss it further with the Commissioner. He said we should not discriminate," he said on Tuesday (Feb 6).

Nevertheless, Yasonna stressed that Indonesia has own culture and beliefs about LGBT. The government also believed LGBT behaviour is unacceptable. "Promoting (LGBT) in public is not acceptable," he reiterated.

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Yasonna said the government not to discriminate LGBT people. On the other hand, there should be punishment against LGBT behaviour.

"I also have discussed it with some other parties. We must be careful to prevent people doing contraproductive things, persecution and others. So, we must balance it and the Draft Law on Penal Code must not discriminative," Yasonna said.

According to Yasonna, Zeid conveyed his hope that Indonesia could be an example of a country in dealing with human rights issues, including against minority groups and marginalized people.

Zeid met the invitation from Foreign Affairs Ministry to visit Indonesia. "The invitation to UN Human Rights High Commission is a strategic effort to commemorate 70th anniversary of UN Universal Declaration and also 25 year National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2018," Director of Human Rights and Humanities at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dicky Komar said.

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