The leader of a conservative Muslim party in Indonesia threw the government into turmoil last week when he uploaded a video to YouTube accusing a close aide to President Prabowo Subianto of being gay and becoming “personally closer” to the head of state.
Amien Rais of the Unmat Party called Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya a moral threat to the nation and the president, Malaysia news outlet The Star reported.
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“Teddy is gay, like the people of Lot in biblical times,” said Amien, who founded his Unmat party in 2021 after abandoning the Muslim, non-sectarian National Mandate Party.
He urged the president to “cut himself loose from Teddy’s dangerous grip” and replace him with a “normal figure” focused on serving the nation.
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The government rushed to defend the president.
Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid responded on Friday that the video contained “hoaxes, slander, and hate speech” aimed at the “character assassination” of Prabowo.
The video disappeared from socials, with a note explaining it was “not available on the country’s domain due to a legal complaint from the government.”
“The video’s narrative is an attempt to demean the state leader, has no factual basis, and is part of a provocative effort to create public unrest,” Meutya added in a statement, saying the government would take further steps against Amien based on the country’s Electronic Information and Transactions Law regarding slander and defamation.
Head of the Government Communications Agency, Muhammad Qodari, added to the official chorus of condemnation, expressing his “concern” over what he termed the Unmat party leader’s susceptibility to misinformation.
“The basis of his accusation was an account that contains a song entitled ‘I’m Not Teddy’, […] which you can see on the poster’s account that it’s solely for entertainment purposes, though there may be political motivations, too,” he said.
Amien backed Prabowo’s rival in the last presidential election, before siding with him after the incumbent’s landslide victory.
The Unmat Party said it was ready to defend its leader’s claims, sources reported the next day. Neither Teddy nor Prabowo has publicly commented
Amnesty International Indonesia condemned the homophobic attack, calling it discriminatory.
“There is no scientific link between lesbian or gay sexual orientation and the inability to lead, nor that it damages public morals,” said executive director Usman Hamid.
He noted, however, that the government’s statements and removal of the video sidestepped the issue of Teddy’s sexuality, focusing on the “defamatory” nature of Amien’s accusation against the president. Whether or not the Cabinet secretary is gay is still a matter of public conjecture.
Teddy, a decorated military officer, served with Indonesia’s Special Forces Command before being selected as assistant to the president’s aide in 2016. In 2019, he earned the International Honor Graduate Award after training at the United States Army Infantry School. He later served as an aide to the Minister of Defense and Deputy Commander of the Army’s 328th Infantry Battalion.
Teddy married in 2018 and divorced the following year.
While homosexuality isn’t technically illegal in most of Indonesia, it can be punished with caning and imprisonment in two Sharia law-governed provinces. The federal government, for its part, has a history of high-profile arrests designed to chill LGBTQ+ visibility and advocacy in the country, employing Indonesia’s controversial anti-
Indonesia is ranked 12 out of 100 on Equaldex’s LGBTQ+ Equality Index.
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