On Friday, Indonesia's former Information and Communications Minister Tifatul Sembering, tweeted, “A saying of the Prophet [Mohamed]: Whomever you find committing the acts of the community of Lot (homosexual) should be put to death.”
Sembering is now a member of Parliament from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party. His tweet is the latest example of a rise in anti-LGBT rhetoric by high-profile politicians in an uproar that began in January. On Monday, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the LGBT community is more dangerous than nuclear weapons, because “it skews the mindset of our nation away from our base ideology.”
Sembering later deleted the tweet in response to online criticism. A few people, including religious studies scholar Akhmad Sahal, suggested Sembering was importing the rhetoric of ISIS, which has publicized the execution of many alleged gay men that it justifies with this same passage of scripture, to Indonesia.
Bahaya banget pake satu dua hadits utk vonis hukuman mati, dan abaikan prinsip2 umum Syariah. ISIS melakukan ini! https://t.co/S4BPZGy4Tp
Translation: "it is very dangerous using one two hadits to sentence someone to death and ignoring general principals of syariah. ISIS does this!"
One local paper reported that the former minister had been "bullied," and Sembering tweeted that he had been silenced after simply quoting scripture.
"What should we do if there are parties who claim that conveying the Quran and Hadith is hate speech?" Sembring asked in a Twitter poll.
Apa yang perlu kita lakukan jika ada pihak yang menganggap sampaikan Quran & Hadits sebagai hate speech?
Answers include "that's fine" and "just smile."
As of publication, "just smile" is winning with 49% of the vote.