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Intimate Nostalgia: Emerging Gay Activism and Technologies of Localization

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Abstract

This chapter examines the emergence of gay activism in the authoritarian New Order era. As homosexuality became increasingly visible and discussed in the public realm, gay activists exploited this ‘sudden openness’ to circulate more queer-affirming discourses of homosexuality. Gay activists adopted multiple strategies that included circulating Western sexuality discourses to promote more positive views of homosexuality. Equally importantly, they also strategically conjured imagined connectivity between local homosexual and transgender practices that were found in particular ethnolinguistic groups, on the one hand, and contemporary gay identity, on the other hand. This chapter argues that the process of connecting modern gay identity and localized homosexual and/or transgender practices has disrupted the idea of a singular point of origin and a Western-centric line of the genealogy of gay identity, and has generated a nostalgic fantasy that Indonesia in the past was actually ‘tolerant’ of homosexuality.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A historical account describes that before LI, there was a gay organization in Indonesia, called the Han Temple Organization or Homosexual World Organization (HWO) (Loftin 2012, 73). Reportedly, located in one of Indonesia’s islands, this organization, created a space for all homosexuals that wanted to live separately from heterosexual people (ibid.). However, because I have been unable to locate historical materials on this subject, for the purpose of this book, I begin with LI instead.

  2. 2.

    In this chapter, I use the term ‘gay,’ ‘lesbian,’ and ‘waria,’ because these terms were largely used by local queer activists at this historical juncture.

  3. 3.

    Queer theory and/or studies itself ‘emerged at an academic conference in 1990 at the University California, Santa Cruz’ (Ghaziani and Brim 2019, 3). Consequently, as a field of studies originating in the U.S., the operations of queer theory and/or studies are reliant on “a provincializing of the United States in relation to the legibility of circuits of queer theorizing from those formerly called the ‘local’” (Puar 2017, 227). In this chapter, I bring the U.S. queer theory and/or studies into a productive dialogue with Indonesian queer politics.

  4. 4.

    See, among others, Amin (2017), Castiglia and Reed (2012), Freccero (2006), Freeman (2019), Halperin (2000), Love (2007), Martin (2010), Muñoz (2019), and Sanchez (2019).

  5. 5.

    Amin (2019, 278) terms this approach “attachment genealogy.” Suturing queerness and affective attachment together, it mainly refers to the “method of exposing, fragmenting, and reworking queer’s historical inheritances to enable queer to do different work in new contexts’ (ibid.). Amin’s call for ‘excavating the alternative historical imaginaries that teem within queer” (ibid., 286) is foundational to understanding the Indonesia’s queer politics I discussed in this chapter.

  6. 6.

    A group of activists compiled and provided the English translation of forty-six articles about homosexuality and transgender/transvestism which appeared in the Indonesian media between 1981 and 1983 (Oetomo 1984, 4). This compilation was published by Sybylla Press in Melbourne, Australia.

  7. 7.

    Valentine describes the conceptual difference between transgender and homosexuality, in which the earlier involves “a deviation from gender norms” (2007, 15) while the later “is not rooted in a gendered inversion” (ibid.). For an incisive analysis of different forms of male homosexuality, see also Halperin, How to Do the History of Homosexuality.

  8. 8.

    Formed in 1945, the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kementerian Sosial), formerly known as Social Affairs Department (Departemen Sosial), has a primary duty to improve the quality of life of marginalized or ‘deviant’ segments of Indonesian society (Hakim 2004, 49). The Ministry of Social Affairs has its district-level branches, called District Social Affairs Office (Dinas Sosial).

  9. 9.

    For a discussion about the permissibility of sex reassignment surgery by Indonesian Islamic clerics and medical experts, see Atmojo (1986, 86–90). For a discussion of the centrality of bodily transformation in the waria’s understanding of the self, see Hagerty (2018).

  10. 10.

    This article was originally published in the Kartini magazine vol. 178, and its year of publication is estimated in 1981. Not too long after this article was released, Dédé Oetomo wrote a written piece published in the same magazine in February 1982, entitled ‘Letters from a Gay Man to Indonesian Mothers’ (Surat Seorang Gay Kepada Ibu-Ibu Indonesia) (Oetomo 1984, 38–40) that urged Indonesian mothers to accept their gay sons.

  11. 11.

    For a historical discussion of the development of the psychoanalytic model of sexuality in Britain and U.S., see Dickinson (2015) and Waidzunas (2015, 42–53). Writing about the Australian contexts, Reynolds (2002, 14) also similarly observes the American medical model that saw homosexuality as a personality disorder or neurotic condition also strongly influenced Australian understanding of homosexuality in the 1960s.

  12. 12.

    In describing the media activisms in the Suharto era, Sen (2011, 5) explains, ‘the removal of censorship, bureaucratic interference and intimidation, crony ownership and complex structures of licensing which scared private media owners into submissions were themselves significant areas in the anti-Suharto battle.’

  13. 13.

    For a comprehensive discussion of Gerwani, see Wieringa (2002).

  14. 14.

    In 1987, based on his direct observation on Indonesian gay community, Indonesian writer Ary R. M. wrote and published the book entitled, Gay: Dunia Ganjil Kaum Homofil (Gay: The Strange World of Homophiles). The publisher made the claim that this book was the first book about ‘gay world’ in the country.

  15. 15.

    Acciacoli, cited in Robinson (2011, 221), observes, “during the 32 years of the New Order, cultural diversity was tolerated so long as it was ‘folkloric’ and would not challenge the ideology of the unitary state.”

  16. 16.

    For more comprehensive accounts of Oetomo’s life history as a person and a prominent Indonesian gay activist, see, among others, Christanty (2009), Emont (2016), and Oetomo (2001).

  17. 17.

    This organization’s name later changed its name to Cornell Gay Liberation and then, Gay People at Cornell (personal communication with Oetomo, November 2019).

  18. 18.

    This traditional dance dates back to the thirteenth century. For a brief historical discussion about warok, see Boellstorff (2005, 40–41).

  19. 19.

    The bissu tradition still exists nowadays, but is increasingly marginalized, due to “modern values and education brought by colonialism” (Hidayana 2018). Another important note is that the institution of bissu recognises five genders and occupies a special status in Bugis society. For a comprehensive discussion of bissu, see Davies (2010).

  20. 20.

    In contemporary articles arguing that LGBT identities are not primarily a product of Western influence, Boellstorff (2016) and Hidayana (2018) also refer to warok-gembak and bissu tradition as local evidence of Indonesia’s historical tolerance toward queer sexualities.

  21. 21.

    The manifesto remains unpublished and I obtained it directly from Oetomo.

  22. 22.

    For a concise discussion of the history of Indonesian lesbian movements, see Agustine (2008).

  23. 23.

    Another source of conflict between gay men and waria was somehow connected to ‘sexual competitions’ between the two communities. Oetomo (2007) highlights that many gay men paid to have sex with masculine men, while masculine or macho men usually paid waria for sex instead. At this historical juncture, gay men only looked to have sex with ‘laki-laki asli’ (masculine or macho man). This sort of competition, according to Oetomo, produced disharmony in the relationship between gay men waria community.

  24. 24.

    GAYa NUSANTARA is now located in the city of Surabaya in the province of East Java.

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    Hendri Yulius Wijaya

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Wijaya, H.Y. (2020). Intimate Nostalgia: Emerging Gay Activism and Technologies of Localization. In: Intimate Assemblages. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2878-1_2

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