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LGBTI comics intercepted at post office in Indonesia will be destroyed
Gay Star News - April 27, 2018
The Attorney General's office said it found hundreds of the comic books on Tuesday. They were intercepted at the Central Post Office in the country's capital Jakarta.
M Yusuf is the director of Socio-Culture and Society of the Deputy Attorney General's Intelligence Affairs (JAM Intel). He told media the Attorney General's office has set up agents at post office centers around the country to monitor mail.
Yusuf said investigators don't know much about the comics, but if they had not been intercepted them they might have ended up all across Indonesia.
'At the moment we are still investigating these comics, as well as publishers and we're still in the evidence collecting phase. But the comics are written in Chinese,' he said. 'If we find the culprit, we will turn them over to police.'
It is not known who sent the comics to Indonesia or what they comics were event about. But it appears they were written in Mandarin (Chinese).
Crackdown on LGBTI media
It's not illegal to be gay in Indonesia but an ongoing crackdown of LGBTI people has seen the government ban things like; gay dating apps, showing effeminate men on TV and even GIFs on popular messaging service WhatsApp.
Usually the reason for banning such content is that it may contain pornography. But the interception of the LGBTI comics is the latest in a trend of government-sanctioned initiatives to 'monitor' the LGBTI community.
A draft bill is in the Indonesian Parliament which would ban any kind of 'LGBT behavior' on TV. The government has already banned LGBTI content online.
The Indonesian House of Representatives will soon also debate changes to the criminal code which would criminalize homosexuality. Debate on the Bill is due to resume in July.
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