The imitation game and to sue the criminalization on love

Jakarta 4.4.2015, Suarakita’s latest movie screening and discussion was held in their HQ in kalibata area. The imitation game was just an elicited for the discussion on “to sue the criminalization on love”.

I’m not going to make a review on imitation game, you can easily find that on google.
Our discussion was conducted by Tunggal Pawestri, who works at Hivos in Jakarta with her ongoing project is about inter-religion marriage. You can read further about Alan Turing from her point of view right here.

Out of so many people who were close to LGBT community, Tunggal has the most honest objective opinion. I met a lot of person claiming that they have no objection towards gay people but when a member of his or her family is gay then the whole story changes, whether you could be disowned, or being isolated due to shaming the family. Tunggal has no opinion if her children will be gay, but one thing for sure she did teach her daughter of other marriage option; not just a man and a woman, but can be woman to woman, although the idea that her daughter might be bullied at school frightened her of the lesson that she tried to teach. She’s not oppose nor against, for me that is the fairest I’ve heard, unlike the tramp next door. Lol. 
        
Long story short, there is no silver lining on this case. For five hundred years LGBT was treated as criminals. Until recent years several laws was revoked but that doesn’t change the fact that the LGBT community still have to struggle to obtain equality. All of the convicted before 2003 had their DNA sample taken and collected among other felonies such as pedophile etc.

Teguh Iman asked whether a gay person should reach AlanTuring’s level just to be accepted as a gay person, the discussion answered that question but all I have in my mind was “we need a new plague”.

How can someone be criminalized because of love? Just because your religion said so?

Well fuck you and fuck your religion too!!!
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The Fox Exploits the Tiger's might

Paul and Kyo, director of Parts of the hearts

The first week of the month, April 3, 2015, Kineforum celebrated yet another misbar, it’s an acronym for gerimis bubar or in a better lack of translation would be when it rains it ends. The event will be held from 3rd to 26th of April.  The first day of the opening played Suci sang Primadona directed by Arifin C Noer, the second movie Parts of the heart  directed by Paul Agusta, and the last show of the day on 19.30 PM played two movies; The fox exploits the tiger’s might directed by Lucky Kuswandi and the movie Kisah Cinta yang asu directed by Yosep Anggi Noen.

I did my research before I attended the screening on the fox exploits the tiger’s might, it is a Chinese folktale on a fox that was going to be eaten by a tiger, then the fox claimed that he was mighty and fierce that the tiger should not eat him, as a demonstration he took the tiger to a nearby village which the villagers flee but not because they were afraid of the fox but merely on who was walking behind the him. The story tells us about a stolen power, how someone can take advantage of it.

The Fox exploits the Tiger’s might:

The movie was opened with a jerkoff session scene by Aseng, a teenage something with a raging hormone and probably still questioning on his sexual identity. The movie tells us that it take place in a military town involving a Chinese family struggling with the military oppression, they need to pay an amount of money just to continue to run on their business. As the movie continues I stumbled upon several bias scenes, the way Aseng looked on the army men training whether they fascinate him in a sexual way or they build a killing emotion towards them, and another scene where David had a sex fantasy with Aseng which involved Eva Arnaz, a sex bomb in the 80s, how it portrayed Aseng’s desire to put his dick on David’s ass and also to take turns on pleasuring them self with Eva.

Q&A session

Kisah Cinta yang Asu:

A lot of foul words were spitted along the movie like asu (dog) or bajingan (bastard), I was hail from Jogjakarta where this film was taken but grew up in Jakarta, I don’t know in what level is this foulness can be tolerated by the Jakartensis but for me it’s pretty gruesome. The movie tells us the story about a prostitute and a biker riding an RX King, and his name is Erik King, meet up and fondling each other, I don’t really understand the story line of this movie – I just completely loss – but it ends up with the prostitute burning her boyfriend’s bike.

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Lipstik and Cinta itu Budi

This is the second week (4/8/2012) that Ourvoice played a movie about LGBT in Ramadhan hence last week, Saturday (28/07/2012) played a movie about gays and lesbians in the eyes of Islam in ‘Jihad for love’ thus this week Ourvoice not only played one, but two movies. “Lipstik” about the life of a transgender living in the society with a foster son named Kekah who brought up religiously and started to questioned the proportion of his faith for having a transgender parent and the second movie is a documentary “Cinta itu Budi” about Cinta, a transgender who is uniquely stand out from any transgender in majority, without having a blush of makeup nor high heels but she epitomized the word beautiful in her own way, the documentary vividly tells her story from her friend’s opinion, and her life as a faithful Muslim yet living as a transgender. 

Ourvoice invited three speakers for discussing the movie after breaking the fast, the first speaker is Jen Katleya, a faithful devotee of Muslim, a hijab-wearer transgender from Bogor, the second one is Dewi Nova, a poet, a writer, and the founder of Perempuan Berbagi, last but not least Lia Toriana, graduated from University of Indonesia majoring in political science.  

Jen shared her opinion about the movie “Lipstik” that Muslim scholars provoked his mass to act anarchist which is not entitled in Islam which claims that the religion brings grace that God is all gracious and merciful. She criticized a part of the movie when a Muslim scholar mentioned that God created day and night, black and white, male and female thus transgender is against nature, “then who who created the transgender if not God himself? and in between day and night there are dusk and dawn, between black and white there are grey and other color gradation” said Jen.

In terms of ‘against nature’, Jen wittily asked why women who have pale lips colorized them with lipstick, “so to speak, circumcision is also against nature” added Jen.

The second speaker, Dewi Nova, enlightens the participants about gender, that sexuality is constructive, can be molded, and attached to hierarchy. How the religious interpretation on transgender will show us that it has a strong dependence on politics, religion, and economics, “thus it will put us to a place where gender is liquid” explained Dewi.

According to Dewi sexuality is uncategorized but we must understand the meaning of political identity therefore the government will know what are the needs for gay, lesbian and transgender.

The last speaker Lia explained the audience about ‘politics or the politicization of the body’, similar with gender our body also influenced by politics, and determined what is good and bad, and constructed how we look on what is beautiful.

“Beauty is painful” according to Josep, a thirty something gay man from Bogor, after he saw a picture of a woman wearing high heels with veins popping out from her legs. 

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” explained Djohan, 27, according to him beauty only exist in the minds of people who valued beauty which are differ from people to people.

On the last session, Diana, one of the audience shared a story how people in some part of Indonesia are powerless against this type of politics, “it is excruciatingly painful to see a woman on the edge of death but prohibited to have a blood transfusion because they said it is haram or illegitimate, it is our body and we have every rights on every inch of it” said Diana.

Discrimination on sexuality and gender are systematic, every elements are linked due in today’s political condition the transgender are the most vulnerable because they are easily seen from their appearance but what was seen does not represents the true form of reality, a couple of transgender standing in the pitch dark of night living as a sex worker does not purportedly means all transgender are sex workers, some works in a beauty parlor, while some will do anything to stay survive. It will be a different story if they were given the chance to work in the formal sector, the governments are obligated to wipe out the prejudice as written on the constitution that every citizen has the right to obtain a decent education and a decent job, after all the transgender are also a tax payer.