JAKARTA, Indonesia — A growing climate of fear is gripping Indonesia’s transgender community as attacks against trans women, increasingly hostile policies and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric raise fresh concerns over the safety and rights of one of the country’s most vulnerable groups.
The issue has drawn renewed international attention after a series of attacks against transgender women in Bogor, West Java, where LGBTQIA+ advocacy group Pelangi Nusantara documented 10 attacks between March 30 and July 15, 2026, involving at least 45 victim-survivors.
According to a report by ABC News Australia, victims were allegedly punched and kicked, pelted with stones and bottles, attacked with firecrackers and, in some cases, stripped naked. One July 15 incident reportedly showed a group of men chasing a transgender woman through the streets after dousing her with what appeared to be urine.
The violence has intensified anxiety among trans women, particularly those whose livelihoods require them to work in public spaces.
A disturbing pattern in Bogor
Activists say the recent incidents should not be viewed as isolated street violence.
Arus Pelangi, an Indonesian LGBTQIA+ rights organization, recorded 28 attacks against the LGBTQIA+ community in 2024 and 66 in 2025, although available data cannot establish whether the Bogor incidents represent a nationwide increase in attacks specifically targeting transgender women.
Amnesty International Indonesia has also raised concerns over the Bogor attacks, noting that groups of roughly 10 to 20 men were reportedly involved in some incidents and that perpetrators filmed and circulated the attacks online. Some survivors were reportedly too frightened to approach authorities.
For activists, the most worrying question is not only why these attacks happened—but whether an increasingly hostile public and political environment is emboldening perpetrators.
The policy shift drawing scrutiny
At the center of the controversy is Presidential Regulation No. 111 of 2025, Indonesia’s general defense policy for 2025–2029.
The regulation has drawn international attention because it identifies the “spread of LGBTQ culture” as a non-military threat within the country’s national-defense framework. The Library of Congress reported that the regulation, signed by President Prabowo Subianto in October 2025, has recently come under renewed scrutiny.
The University of Melbourne’s Indonesia at Melbourne platform likewise reported that the regulation places the “spread of LGBTQI+ culture” in the same broad category of non-military threats that includes issues such as terrorism, separatism and radicalism.
Human-rights advocates fear such language could contribute to an environment in which LGBTQIA+ people are portrayed as a threat rather than citizens entitled to protection.
Asia Forum, a regional human-rights network, called in August for Indonesia to end discriminatory measures against LGBTIQ communities and to protect human-rights defenders from violence, harassment, doxxing and online attacks.
But being transgender is not generally a crime in Indonesia
One important distinction is frequently lost in discussions about Indonesia’s LGBTQ+ crackdown.
Being LGBTQIA+ is not generally criminalized nationwide. However, Indonesia has no comprehensive national anti-discrimination protection based on sexual orientation or gender identity, while local regulations can impose additional restrictions.
Aceh is a major exception because it operates under Islamic criminal bylaws, including provisions that criminalize same-sex conduct and permit corporal punishment in certain cases.
Indonesia’s new Penal Code also took effect in 2026, introducing criminal provisions concerning sex outside marriage. The United Nations Human Rights Committee had previously expressed concerns surrounding the implementation of Indonesia’s revised criminal law and its potential impact on rights and privacy.
From entertainment icons to targets of violence
The current situation is particularly striking because transgender people have long been part of Indonesia’s social and cultural history.
The Diplomat notes that people now understood as transgender were documented in Indonesian society centuries ago, while transgender and gender-nonconforming performers became prominent in popular entertainment during the 20th century. Figures such as Dorce Gamalama became familiar faces in Indonesian television and entertainment.
That history, however, has existed alongside periods of discrimination, police action and social stigma.
Human Rights Watch previously documented a sharp deterioration in the environment for Indonesia’s sexual and gender minorities, particularly during the wave of anti-LGBT rhetoric that intensified in 2016.
More recent human-rights documentation has continued to record discrimination, harassment, arbitrary restrictions and violence affecting LGBTQIA+ Indonesians.
Activists fear violence could become normalized
Transgender rights activist Echa Wao’de told ABC that the Bogor attacks have left trans women afraid to simply go outside and work.
The concern is especially acute for working-class trans women whose jobs require them to remain visible in public spaces.
The attacks also raise questions about law enforcement. Activists told ABC that some victims who attempted to report incidents allegedly saw little follow-up from authorities.
The broader concern is that when discriminatory rhetoric comes from influential political or institutional actors, ordinary acts of harassment can become increasingly normalized.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned in May 2026 that inflammatory rhetoric by some politicians and leaders is driving online abuse against LGBTIQ+ people, particularly transgender people.
The bigger question for Indonesia
Indonesia now faces a difficult contradiction.
On one hand, transgender people have existed visibly within Indonesian society and culture for generations. On the other, activists say political rhetoric, discriminatory local regulations and violent attacks are creating an increasingly dangerous environment.
The question is therefore no longer simply whether Indonesia’s transgender community can continue to exist openly.
It is whether the state will protect transgender Indonesians from violence and discrimination—or allow an increasingly hostile climate to push them further into hiding.
For the victims of the recent Bogor attacks, that question is no longer theoretical.
It is a matter of whether they can safely walk outside their homes, go to work and live openly without becoming the next target.
And as attacks continue to draw international scrutiny, the pressure is mounting on Indonesian authorities to show exactly where they stand.
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