JAKARTA: A string of mob attacks targeting transgender women in Bogor, West Java, has sparked outrage among civil society groups. They blame a presidential regulation classifying the promotion of LGBTQ culture as a national threat for helping to justify harassment and violence against the minority community.
Over the past two months, at least 10 transgender women have been subjected to three separate mob attacks in Bogor, according to Amnesty International Indonesia.
Footage of the attacks has circulated online, including a clip showing a group of men punching and kicking a transgender woman as she walked along a street in Bogor at night. The perpetrators also filmed themselves spraying the victim with what was believed to be urine from a bottle.
The attacks were reportedly carried out under the banner of the so-called Bogor Bersih LGBTQ movement, which means “Bogor free of LGBTQ”.
Civil society groups have since denounced violence against LGBTQ people, particularly those who are highly visible, such as transgender women.
During a press conference hosted by the Indonesian Women’s Alliance, or API, on Sunday, several civil society groups urged the central government to revoke discriminatory policies that could be used to justify violence against the queer community.
The alliance said similar attacks and convoys displaying anti-LGBT banners had also appeared in other cities, including Palembang in South Sumatra and Serang in Banten.
“There has been a sharp increase in hate speech and discrimination in health and education services in recent months, along with more persecution of LGBTQ people and advocates, worsened by the continued push to criminalise the community,” API activist Riska Carolina told the press conference.
LGBTQ people are not criminalised in most parts of Indonesia, although same-sex relations are illegal under sharia law in Aceh.
In October last year, President Prabowo Subianto issued a 70-page presidential regulation on national defence policy that identified “the promotion of LGBT culture” as a non-military threat. It placed it alongside illegal trafficking, natural resource theft, terrorism, atheism and radicalism.
The regulation has increased fears of criminalisation among queer Indonesians, as lawmakers and religious groups have proposed drafting an anti-LGBT penal law.
“The Bogor attacks prove that such a discriminatory regulation can intensify violence against LGBTQ individuals, although targeted persecution and anti-queer campaigns had already begun before the regulation was issued,” Arus Pelangi secretary-general Echa Waode said during the press conference.
Arus Pelangi recorded 66 cases of violence involving 97 members of the queer community in 2025, an increase of 135 per cent from the previous year.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid described the attacks in Bogor as “clear persecution” and a violation of human rights. He called on the government to ensure public safety without discrimination.
Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai also condemned the attacks, saying the perpetrators should not resort to vigilante violence against the queer community.
“These actions cannot be tolerated,” Pigai told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. “I urge the public not to resort to vigilantism.”
He encouraged civil society groups to report violence against the LGBTQ community to his office, assuring them that the government would assist with legal proceedings.
Bogor Mayor Dedie Rachim told the Post on Sunday that his administration had urged residents not to take arbitrary action against the queer community. Instead, he said they should contact Public Order Agency officers, known as Satpol PP, who would conduct regular patrols.
