The Paradox of Unity in Diversity. A mystery case study on the decreasing rights of the LGBT community in Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to, in the light of Indonesia’s democratic institutions apparent capacity to foster civil and political freedoms, explain the recent years decreasing rights of the LGBT community. We have in the recent years experienced thickened and crystallized attitudes towards the LGBT community in Indonesia. Considering Indonesia’s size and diverse population, this has required me to include several aspects to the analysis, ultimately in order to explain the decreasing rights of the LGBT community. The aspects included have been Islamic fundamentalists, the New Islamic Populism, politicians in the context of direct elections in local regimes as well as the LGBT community and activists. In order answer the research question, I will refer to Olle Törnquist’s (2013) six points to political capacity, and Bayo and Samadhi (2017) as well as Eriksson and Skoog’s (2005) knowledge on formal/informal actors and institutions. The analysis will be separated into four sections, where each of the actors six political capacities will be analyzed with reference to relevant theory. Considerations to include in the analysis on actors’ political capacity is how their strength and weaknesses affect the dynamic between formal/informal actors and institutions.