Several beauty salons in Aceh province were raided over the weekend and transgender women working there taken to the local police station.

The transgender women, who were also forced to wear men’s clothes, will be held for three days.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that has strict Islamic religious law.

The move has been condemned by human rights groups.

Transgender women are known locally as waria, a word that combines the Indonesian words for men and women.

Local Police Chief Ahmad Untung Surianata told the BBC: “We are holding them for three days to give them counselling and coaching. It’s going well and now they are all acting like real men.”

While on the phone to the BBC, he yelled at the transgender women: “Are you still waria now?”

They replied quietly, sounding clearly under pressure, that they were not.

Police raided the salons late on Saturday
He said his team had carried out the raid, dubbed “Operation Anti Moral Illness”, after neighbours complained about the “negative influence” the transgender community could have on their children.

The Indonesian National Commission of Human Rights has condemned the raids, saying the police acted outside the law and their actions were inhuman.

“All citizens deserve protection and to be treated equally,” Commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara told the BBC.

“After seeing photos of the raid and the information we have received so far about the raid, it’s clear that they violated the police code of conduct. The job of the police should be to protect people, particularly the vulnerable.”

Aceh was granted special rights to introduce its own stricter Islamic laws more than a decade ago, and has become increasingly conservative in recent years.

While it is not against Sharia in Aceh to be transgender, gay sex is illegal, and last year two men became the first couple to be publicly caned for the act.

Transgender culture is accepted in other parts of Indonesia
Indonesia as a whole has a long and vibrant transgender culture and tradition, which has historically broadly been met with tolerance from the public, BBC Indonesian editor Rebecca Henschke reports.

In some parts of the archipelago, waria are revered as divine people.

But in recent years there has been rising anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) sentiment across the country, with a wave of hatred directed towards the community from religious leaders and some of the country’s leading politicians.

Even in the capital Jakarta – once a relatively safe space – police have carried out a series of raids on bars popular with the LGBT community, and jailed gay men caught in them under the country’s controversial pornography laws.

–

Source: BBC

The post Indonesia: Transgender women in Aceh detained by police appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Tuesday’s guilty verdict for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.

President Joko Widodo was an ally of Purnama, an ethnic-Chinese Christian who is popularly known as “Ahok”, and the verdict will be a setback for a government that has sought to quell radical groups and soothe investors’ concerns that the country’s secular values were at risk.

As thousands of supporters and opponents waited outside, the head judge of the Jakarta court, Dwiarso Budi Santiarto, said Purnama was “found to have legitimately and convincingly conducted a criminal act of blasphemy, and because of that we have imposed two years of imprisonment”.

Purnama told the court he would appeal.

Charles Santiago, chairman of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), a grouping of regional lawmakers overseeing rights issues, said: “Indonesia was thought to be a regional leader in terms of democracy and openness. This decision places that position in jeopardy and raises concerns about Indonesia’s future as an open, tolerant, diverse society.”

The United Nations’ Bangkok Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in a tweet said: “We are concerned by jail sentence for Jakarta governor for alleged blasphemy against Islam. We call on Indonesia to review blasphemy law.”

WEEPING SUPPORTERS

Purnama was taken to an East Jakarta prison after the verdict and his lawyer Tommy Sihotang said he would remain there despite his appeal process unless a higher court suspended it.

Shocked and angry supporters, some weeping openly, gathered outside the prison, vowing not to leave the area until he was released, while others expressed their shock on social media.

Some lay down outside the jail blocking traffic, others shook the barbed-wire topped fence of the prison, while some chanted “destroy FPI”, referring to the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline group behind many of the protests against Purnama.

“They sentenced him because they were pressured by the masses. That is unfair,” Purnama supporter Andreas Budi said.

But Novel Bamukmin, a leader of the Jakarta chapter of FPI, said the group objected to the sentence “because it was still far from what we had expected.”

President Widodo urged all parties to respect the court verdict as well as Purnama’s decision to appeal.

Home affairs minister Tjahjo Kumolo said Purnama’s deputy would take over in the interim.

Thousands of police were deployed in case clashes broke out, but there was no sign of any violence after the verdict.

Prosecutors had called for a suspended one-year jail sentence on charges of hate speech. The maximum sentence is four years in prison for hate speech and five years for blasphemy.

Hardline Islamist groups had called for the maximum penalty possible over comments by Purnama that they said were insulting to the Islamic holy book, the Koran.

While on a work trip last year, Purnama said political rivals were deceiving people by using a verse in the Koran to say Muslims should not be led by a non-Muslim.

An incorrectly subtitled video of his comments later went viral, helping spark huge demonstrations that ultimately resulted in him being brought to trial.

Purnama denied wrongdoing, though he apologized for the comments made to residents in an outlying Jakarta district.

Purnama lost his bid for re-election to a Muslim rival, Anies Baswedan, in an April run-off after the most divisive and religiously charged election in recent years. He is due to hand over to Baswedan in October.

If Purnama’s appeal fails, he would be prevented from holding public office under Indonesian law because the offense carries a maximum penalty of five years, said Simon Butt of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.

Song Seng Wun, regional economist at CIMB Private Banking, said that the verdict was “not a huge shock” to investors because most blasphemy cases in Indonesia end in convictions.

“Going forward, race and religion will continue to be played out and be used by politicians for whatever agenda that they have,” Song said, adding significant capital outflow was only likely if there was a deterioration of law and order.

Rights groups fear Islamist hardliners are in the ascendancy in a country where most Muslims practise a moderate form of Islam and which is home to sizeable communities of Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.

Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch described the verdict as “a huge setback” for Indonesia’s record of tolerance and for minorities.

Widodo’s government said this week it would take legal steps to disband Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a group that seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate, because its activities were creating social tensions and threatening security.

–

Source: Reuters

The post Indonesia: Christian governor jailed for blasphemy against Islam appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Essien and Cole completed a transfer move to the Indonesia outfit last month and made their respective debuts last Saturday in a 0-0 draw against Arema FC.

But, the players and their club may soon be involved in a legal tussle after the government-backed Professional Sports Agency found out that the players did not have the required work permits to play in the country.

The club admitted Monday that the players did not have the work permits and they had sought to acquire the documents a few days before their first match.

Persib claims the permits were not ready on time, but the football association and league organizer gave them permission to play.

Persib Manager Umuh Muchtar accused the sports agency of witch-hunting the foreign players.

“That they are here is a joy for us, they want to raise up Indonesia’s name in the world,” he said.

He added: “Everybody knows that Essien is a world-class player, not an illegal immigrant.”

Immigration authorities have summoned the club management but it is not clear when the questioning would take place.

An immigration official Agustianur (who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name) explained that, “They are professionals so they must hold a (work) permit to perform activities in Indonesia.”

–

By: Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Essien risks jail term in Indonesia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Despite decades of tobacco control policies, population growth has seen an increased number of smokers, it warned.

Researchers said mortality could rise further as tobacco companies aggressively targeted new markets, especially in the developing world.

The report was published in the medical journal The Lancet.

“Despite more than half a century of unequivocal evidence of the harmful effects of tobacco on health, today, one in every four men in the world is a daily smoker,” said senior author Dr Emmanuela Gakidou.

“Smoking remains the second largest risk factor for early death and disability, and so to further reduce its impact we must intensify tobacco control to further reduce smoking prevalence and attributable burden.”

The Global Burden of Diseases report was based on smoking habits in 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2015.

It found that nearly one billion people smoked daily in 2015 – one in four men and one in 20 women.

Higher taxes

That was a reduction from one in three men and one in 12 women who lit up in 1990.

However, population growth meant there was an increase in the overall number of smokers, up from 870 million in 1990.

And the number of tobacco-related deaths – more than 6.4 million in 2015 – increased by 4.7% over the same period.

The study found some countries had succeeded in efforts to help people quit, mostly through a combination of higher taxes, warnings on packages and education programmes.

Over the 25-year period, Brazil had seen the percentage of daily smokers drop from 29% to 12% among men and from 19% to 8% among women.

But, the report said, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines saw no change from 1990 to 2015.

Russia saw smoking among women rise by 4% over the same period and similar trends were emerging in parts of Africa, the authors warned.

–

Source: BBC

The post Smoking causes one in 10 deaths worldwide, new study shows appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The landslide hit Banaran village in Ponorogo district, East Java on Saturday morning, damaging up to 30 houses.

“There are conflicting reports about the number of people missing, but based on the data from the field we are searching for 17 people,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purno Nugroho told AFP.

The local disaster agency along with the military, police and volunteers were evacuating the area.

Indonesia is often hit by landslides. Twelve people including three children died in a landslide on the holiday island of Bali last February.

In September, almost thirty people died in devastating floods and landslides in Garut, West Java.

–

Source: AFP

The post Indonesia searches for 17 people buried in Java landslide appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Akbar Salubiro, 25, went missing on Sunday night after setting off to harvest palm oil in a remote village on the island of west Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Concerned friends and relatives found a giant python sprawled out in Akbar’s own back garden the next evening – and feared he had been suffocated and swallowed.

Akbar’s lifeless body was found inside the serpent after horrified locals sliced open its belly using a 18-inch long hunting knife.

Horrifying footage shows the corpse being slowly removed from the killer reptile as the leathery skin is peeled away.

‘Initially Akbar set out from his home to go to harvest palm. After not returning to his home, people looked for him.’

Akbar’s wife, Munu, was away at the time and only found out when pictures and video emerged in the news, local media reported.

Village secretary Salubiro Junaidi said: ‘People had heard cries from the palm grove the night before Akbar was found in the snake’s stomach.

‘When the snake was captured, the boots Akbar was wearing were clearly visible in the stomach of the snake.

‘Resident cut open the belly of the snake and Akbar was lifeless.’

Reticulated pythons are boa constrictors that suffocate their victims before swallowing them whole.

–

Source: Mail Online

The post Indonesia: Village finds missing man swallowed whole in python appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

An unidentified woman screamed out in pain as she was caned 23 times in Indonesia’s Aceh for breaking the province’s strict Islamic law forbidding intimacy between unmarried couples.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that enforces sharia law and people face floggings for a range of offences, including gambling, drinking alcohol and gay sex.

She was one of 13 people – aged between 21-30 – to be flogged on Monday at a mosque.

The woman was allegedly caught standing too close to her boyfriend.

The six couples were found guilty of breaking Islamic law that bans intimacy – no touching, hugging and kissing – between unmarried people.

One man was even caned for spending time with a member of the opposite sex in a private location, which could lead to adultery.

One of the offenders, a 22-year-old pregnant woman, was not flogged on Monday but was warned the punishment will be enforced after she has given birth.

With a reported increase in floggings of women, Daily Mail reported Nur Elita was marched to the yard of Baiturrahumim Mosque in Banda Aceh at the end of last year and received five lashes.

Ms Elita keeled over in pain at the end of her lashings as she had to be carried off stage and taken to hospital.

She received her harsh floggings for getting to close to a fellow university student – who was also whipped.

–

Source: Daily Mail

The post Muslim woman caned in Indonesia for ‘standing too close to her boyfriend’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.