REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- House Speaker Bambang Soesatyo is committed to stemming any attempt of legalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community by calling on the Indonesian people to support the commitment. LGBT is against the nature and religious teachings, he said in a press statement released on Sunday.

"Allah SWT has created crowns in pairs. There are men and women as well as male and female," he said while attending the commemoration of the Prophet Mohammad's birthday held by the Assembly Bin Yahya in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday (Jan 27).

Soesatyo said LGBT is a serious threat to the nation's morale. Therefore, Soesatyo called on religious leaders to help educate the public to not follow the behavior. "It is the responsibility of the entire Indonesian nation to address this controversial issue," he added.

Previously, Soesatyo has expressed his optimism that LGBT would be regulated in the Bill on Penal Code. One of the examples is same-sex marriages that are made public and publicized. "This must be categorized as a criminal act and should be punishable. Hence, an article must be put in place that stipulates the prosecution of LGBT deviant behavioral violations," Soesatyo had noted in Jakarta on Tuesday (Jan 24).

According to the DPR speaker, various practitioners, religious leaders, and the government had been invited to discuss this matter, and it is expected that the draft of the Criminal Code will be completed before the DPR's term ends in 2019. "We also invite practitioners of academics and experts, including those from the government, to participate in the discussion," he noted.

Meanwhile, members of the Working Committee on the Draft Law on the Revision of the Criminal Code from the PPP Faction Arsul Sani believes that the prosecution for LGBT should not be for their status as perpetrators but for the deviant behavior they exhibit in public. Sani explained that the extension of the criminal section for LGBT is not only for same-sex relations but also for sexual relations involving the opposite sex by minors and adults. 

"Deviant behavior exhibited in public is punishable not only for LGBT people but also for men and women. Men and women found kissing in public are punishable, as it amounts to pornography," Sani elaborated.

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