Salatiga Carnival Center

Salatiga Carnival Center
Sebuah event akbar tahunan WORLD CULTURE FASHION CARNIVAL..

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Salatiga, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia
I was born in Solo, December 25, 1987 from the father of Drs. Luke Suroso and Mrs. Sri Puji Lestari Hantokyudhaningsih. I grew up in a city full of culture that is the city of Solo. as the descendants of the solos even have blood from a stranger. I was born like a tiny man, weighing> 4 kg. the second child of three brothers that I tried to be a pioneer and a child who was always proud of my extended family. trained hard in terms of education and given the religious sciences until thick. I am standing upright in my life the 19th to voice the aspirations of the marginalized of LGBT in the city of Salatiga. as a new city that will be a starting point toward change and transformation that this country is a country truly democratic. soul, body and all of my life will always fight for rights of the marginalized is to get our citizen rights. Ladyboys no rights, no gay rights, no rights of lesbian, but there's only citizen rights regardless of sexual orientation and gender.

08 April 2010

A Statement from the ILGA-ASIA BOARD on the Cancellation of 4th

The 4th ILGA ASIA conference was to take place in Surabaya, Indonesia
from the 26th to the 28th of March 2010, however, due to unforeseen and
unfortunate circumstances, the conference had to be cut short.

ILGA is the only worldwide federation campaigning for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) rights and was established in
1978. The aim of ILGA is to work for the equality of LGBTI people and
their liberation from all forms of discrimination. It seeks to achieve
this aim through the worldwide cooperation and mutual support of its
members.

ILGA ASIA is the Asian branch of ILGA and it has successfully organised
conferences in India, the Philippines and Thailand in the past. ILGA
ASIA has over 160 member organisations in more than 17 countries across
Asia.

ILGA Asia accepted the proposal of GAYa NUSANTARA, the oldest LGBT
organisation in Indonesia, to host the fourth Regional Conference of
ILGA Asia in Surabaya, Indonesia.

The conference organisers received endorsements from the local city
police to hold the conference. However, as news of the conference
became known to local media and groups of fundamentalists, who opposed
the conference, they began to threaten to disrupt the conference and
upset the participants with violent protests. The police withdrew their
endorsement of the conference fearing to not be able to control the
fundamentalists and the safety of the conference participants. ILGA
ASIA was then forced to announce that the conference was “officially”
cancelled.

The conference was to be held at the Mercure Hotel (Accor Hotels
Group), with many of the participants coming from all over Asia and who
were staying at the hotel. The management of the hotel then decided
that they were very uncomfortable to host the conference and
accommodate the participants. Two days prior to the start of the
conference, the management of the hotel demanded all the participants
to vacate their rooms, which had been paid for, and find alternative
accommodation. The Oval Hotel, kindly accepted to host the event and
provide the rooms needed for those who had to leave Mercure. The
conference organisers tried their best to mobilise as much support from
high-level public figures, to persuade the police to return to their
initial endorsement, but to no avail.

On Thursday the 25th of March the ILGA ASIA board called for a meeting
with all the participants and explained the situation to them and the
possible risks in continuing with the conference. In spite of all the
threats and potential risks, the participants and the board decided to
go ahead with a “meeting of activists”, as this is why they had come to
Surabaya. The ILGA ASIA board commends the commitment and determination
of the activists in Asia and their tenacity in wishing to persevere
with the agenda under extremely difficult circumstances and to help
build a world where all people are free and equal.

In the morning of Friday the 26th of March at 8.30am, the activists
gathered in the corridor of the 4th floor of the Oval Hotel where Dédé
Oetomo, director of GAYa NUSANTARA, Poedjiati Tan and Sahran
Abeysundara, representatives of ILGA ASIA to ILGA, welcomed all the
delegates and declared the “Meeting of Activists” open. Four energy
packed workshops were carried out throughout the morning taking place
in rooms of the board members for security reasons. Over 100
representatives from more than 12 countries participated and the
atmosphere was electric.

By midday the board had received information that a group of
fundamentalists had mobilised themselves after Friday prayers and were
heading towards the hotel. For the safety of the participants and in
the best interest of all those involved, the board decided to cancel
the programme of events for the afternoon session. The heads of the
fundamentalist groups entered the hotel and sat around a table in the
lobby, adjacent to the elevators, talking to one another, while other
demonstrators grew into a larger threatening crowd outside of the hotel
lobby. The heads of the opposing groups (the Unity Front of the
Community of Islam (FPUI), an ad-hoc coalition of 7 conservative and
hard-line Islamic groups including the Indonesian Council of Ulemas
(MUI), Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body, the Islamic Defender Front
(FPI), a local extremist group that is known for violent tactics, and
the Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a local chapter of a worldwide
network by the same name that is believed to be very active in a number
of countries including the United Kingdom despite being banned by many
governments) demanded to speak to the ILGA ASIA organisers and Mr King
Oey, a member of the ILGA ASIA board and part of the organising
committee tried to reason with them, only to be assaulted in return.

Moments later, the regional board and the Secretaries Generals of ILGA
and the communications team met to analyse the situation and to take
necessary measures and further precautions. This involved hours of
negotiation with the police and the management of the hotel. At around
4 pm, dozens more protesters arrived at the Oval Hotel and the
atmosphere became more heated. The police wanted to terminate their
responsibility by pressuring the conference delegates and organisers to
leave the hotel immediately. Only after the mediation of some prominent
public figures who were among the participants, the police finally
offered protection to the participants and the hotel management
accepted that they could remain in the hotel until the end of their
reservations. The police also negotiated with the demonstrators and
told them that it had decided to give protection to the delegates. The
demonstrators however refused to leave and began to put more and more
pressure on to the organising committee promising to return armed the
next day. By early evening, it became necessary to evacuate the
participants in groups of four. Some were aided by their embassies,
others who managed to change their flights were taken directly to the
airport, whilst others were moved to different hotels and some left
Surabaya by land to neighbouring cities. A few remained at the hotel as
“tourists”. The ILGA ASIA board wishes to thank all Indonesian
activists who coordinated and put their necks on the line to ensure the
safety of all the participants.

On Sunday 29 March, news spread quickly regarding an article that
appeared in the Jakarta Post that morning, that the fundamentalists had
threatened to come to the Oval hotel and physically remove all
remaining foreigners and to take them directly to the airport. The
Secretaries General of ILGA left the hotel with the last participants
to a hotel near the airport, where the last departures were arranged.
On the same day, news spread in relation to the Ministry of Religious
Affairs, announcing a court action against the organising committee for
“activities against religion”.

All iInternational participants left Indonesia and have arrived safely
back to their home countries leaving the Indonesian activists to face
harder challenges ahead of them.

ILGA, as part of an international coalition of LGBTI rights defenders,
has initiated a coordinated operation to denounce and protest against
the attack that occurred, with the concerned international bodies and
to demand action from these as a result. Many voices have risen, in
Indonesia and in different countries around the world, demanding the
respect of human rights of LGBT people and the right to assembly.

The demand of action is based on the fact that in Indonesia:
(a) The constitution has a strong equality clause
(b) The constitution is based on secular principles
(c) Indonesia has ratified the major UN human rights treaties

The ILGA ASIA board wishes to thank all the activists that had
assembled from all parts of Asia and for showing great courage in the
face adversity. We wish to thank our funders [Global Fund for Women,
Astraea, LGBTI Initiative of Open Society Institute, Hivos, Fridae and
Oxfam-Novib] who have stood by us through this difficult time and have
been a great source of strength. We are blessed by the many men and
women in the Indonesian government who have stood up for our rights and
have spoken out against the fundamentalists. But most of all, we are
forever grateful to our Indonesian partners and the organizing team for
showing great resolve and for standing up for what they believe in and
showing the world what activism is all about. They are an inspiration
to us all, their courage is to be admired and their commitment to a
world free of prejudice and hate is a testimony to who they are.

The ILGA ASIA board stands firm in our belief that all people are
created equal and free and that we all have the right to live as we
are, and to love who we love. This incident has not weakened our
movement but has only made us stronger. For we know our work is
important and what we do changes the lives of so many people around
Asia and the world. Our determination is that much stronger and our
belief is that much more. Our work is not over until all people can
live in a world that accepts us for who we are.

In Solidarity,

ILGA-ASIA BOARD

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