Indonesia: FPI and authorities in Pekanbaru raid office of HIV prevention group on suspicion of LGBT activity

An organization that promotes in HIV/AIDS prevention and sex worker rights may be the latest casualty in Indonesia’s ongoing LGBT moral panic after a raid on one of their offices, by a local hardline Islamic organization, in Riau’s capital city of Pekanbaru.

Members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), accompanied by members of the military and police (reportedly there to prevent any conflict) as well as local residents of Pekanbaru’s Air Putih Village, raided an office belonging to the secretariat of the Indonesian Social Change Organization (OPSI) on Tuesday afternoon.

According to its website, OPSI is a a national network of sex workers who work with the government and others organizations on HIV and STI prevention, including the National AIDS Commission. The Pekanbaru secretariat office of OPSI is clearly identified by a sign in front of its building.

Those who conducted the raid on the office justified it by claiming that local resident had become concerned by “unusual activities” at the house, including music playing late and people coming in-and-out of the building in the night, including men wearing women’s clothes.

“Several times I saw busy activities in the house. Until 2 am after midnight. Loud music, and men came, but those like women, wearing short skirts,” one resident, Zulfahmi, said as quoted by Republika. He and others said the raid was carried out because they suspected the office was being used as a place for “LGBT activities”.

The owner of OPSI’s office building and the local chair of the organization, Ruli Ramadhani, said the office already had proper permits from both the provincial government and the local village administration. He also said that their office was focused on HIV awareness and prevention. He said the group did not specifically support LGBT rights or activities. Read more via Coconuts