Poet’s note:
Conservatism continues to rise in Indonesia. In effect, the queer community often faces gender-based violence, criminalization, invasion of privacy, hate crime, and so forth. The Indonesian government actively participates in this rise of conservatism. In early January 2026, the government implemented the newest revision of The Indonesian Criminal Code, which will most likely  increase the cases of criminalization of the queer community through laws against premarital sex and cohabitation.


Conservatism also convinces many Indonesians that queerness is a form of “budaya kebarat-baratan” (Western culture) which shouldn’t exist in Indonesia. According to conservatives, queer Indonesians are “abnormal”, because queerness doesn’t align with Indonesia’s “budaya ketimuran” (Eastern culture). This belief is harmful in the way it denies the existence of queer Indonesians, who have always existed; long before the archipelago was named Indonesia, long before Western knowledge taught us about “the dangers of homosexuality”.


Through “anti-binaries”, I would like you—especially young adult queers in Indonesia—to remember that many of our ancestors were queer. Remembering our queer ancestors is very important in a country that historically erased their identity through state violence. I would also like to invite you to continuously learn about Indonesian history and unlearn Western knowledge. Let’s take this moment to remember the bissu(s) who were killed by the Indonesian Army during the Western-backed 1965 Indonesian genocide.