Jakarta – Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu believes that the emergence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Indonesia is part of a “proxy war” to take over a country without needing to send military troops.

“For 15 years now I have produced (writings) on modern warfare, this is the same model. A dirt cheap war”, said Ryacudu at the Ministry of Defence offices in Jakarta on Tuesday February 23.

According to Ryacudu, the threat of a proxy war represents a danger to Indonesia because other countries have an interest in not confronting the country directly. Because of this therefore, we should be on guard against supporters of LGBT people who are asking for their communities to be legalised.

“(LGBT people) are dangerous, if we fail to see (our foes), before you know it [we’ll] be brain washed, wanting all kinds of freedoms, that’s dangerous”, said the former army chief of staff (KSAD).

Ryacudu explain that this proxy war is frightening because the enemy is unknown. In fighting another country, the enemy can easily be detected and resisted.

“[But] in a proxy war, all of a sudden the enemy has already taken over the country. If an atomic or nuclear bomb was placed in Jakarta, Jakarta would be destroyed, but [the Central Java city of] Surabaya wouldn’t be destroyed. But in a modern war everything is destroyed. That’s dangerous”, he explained.

Ryacudu added that modern warfare is no longer conducted with weapons, rather it makes use of ideas. “A war of weapon systems isn’t dangerous, but what is dangerous is brain washing that distorts the understanding of the state ideology”, he said. (ful)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was Menhan: LGBT Bagian dari Proxy War.]

Notes

Ryamizard Ryacudu is a former army general known for his hardline stance on separatism and xenophobic remarks and criticism of rights activists. In 2001 he praised the killing of prominent Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay, saying the Kopassus soldiers who murdered him were “heroes”. He is a close ally of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri and as army chief of staff during her presidency oversaw military operations in Aceh and Papua resulting in countless civilian casualties.

Source: http://news.okezone.com/read/2016/02/23/337/1319545/menhan-lgbt-bagian-dari-proxy-war