The Gay Archipelago, by Tom Boellstorff. Princeton University Press, 2005 Why do we know so little about Indonesia, one of our nearest neighbours? In this book, one US gay anthropologist has done invaluable work about their lesbi*, gay and waria (traditional gay transvestite) communities. Indonesia has two hundred and thirty million people, six hundred and seventy ethnic groups, and an estimated ninety percent of the population is Muslim, although significant Hindu and Buddhist minorities exist on some of its six thousand inhabited islands. The archipelago has had a troubled history. For its first two decades of independence from Dutch colonialism, Sukarno ruled an Indonesia that was oriented toward the non-aligned movement, until Major General Soeharto overthrew him in a bloody coup in 1965, massacring an estimated five hundred thousand members of the Communist Party of Indonesia. In his turn, he was overthrown in 1998, and the archipelago returned to democratic rule. What about its lesbi and gay inhabitants? Under Article 292 of the Indonesian Penal Code, it would appear that while same-sex rape and paedophilia are illegal, male homosexuality per se has been effectively decriminalised, a considerable advance on its homophobic neighbour, Malaysia. Like urban gay men anywhere else in the world, our Indonesian counterparts go clubbing, cruising, and congregate in tempat ngebers, specific social spaces for interaction amidst parks, city squares, bridges, wharves and bus stations. Lesbi Indonesians are more domestic, given an unfortunate gendered double standard that has traditionally given Indonesian men in general more social freedom, although there is considerable pressure on lesbi and gay men alike to get heterosexually married. Waria are another category yet again, consisting of gay male transvestites who traditionally engaged in popular entertainment, traditional female occupations and sex work. Despite their low social status, they are accorded some government recognition due to their traditional roles in Indonesian societies, whereas lesbi and gay Indonesians are not. On the island of Sulawesi, bissu used to be (predominantly gay male) shamans, but a militant Sunni Islamicist group, Kahar Muzakar, tried to suppress their traditional role as "unislamic.' Since the fall of Soeharto, stronger emphasis on federalism and restoration of traditions and social pluralism have led to a weak revival of bissu shamanism, but deprived of their ceremonial clothing and land holdings. While waria fulfill a traditional role in Indonesian society, the same cannot be said for their lesbi Indonesian equivalents. Like Western butch and femme roles, hunter/tomboi 'butches' and cewek/femme lesbi Indonesians exist as matching pairs. Unlike waria, tombois have no equivalent traditional role. Neither waria or tomboi view themselves as wanting gender reassignment surgery, and distinguish their male or female anatomies from their feminine and masculine gender roles. However, cewek lesbians do pursue their hunter/tomboi objects of passion quite vigorously, and some waria are tops in penetrative sex with men, so gender roles do not neccessarily reflect social or sexual 'passivity.' In addition, Indonesia has hadone female president already, and occupational feminism has made some inroads in the workplace. As for attitudes toward lesbianism and male homosexuality in general, Indonesian Islam seems not to be particularly interested in inciting homophobic backlash, although there are the social pressures cited above. While there seem to be few social barriers to lesbi and gay socialising, or censorship of Indonesian media, the archipelago has traditionally filtered out western media. The Qu'ran doesn't mention lesbianism. and gay men have heard of western genetic research into the origins of lesbianism and homosexuality. They argue that Allah made them gay, and as He is merciful and compassionate, he must want them to meet and fall in love. Despite this, lesbi and gay Indonesians largely formed their identities from Indonesian mass media, with some snippets of information from the western world. Some lesbi play Tracy Chapman DVDs, some waria do Britney Spears impersonations, but most learnt about lesbi and gay sexualities and identities through either the mass media or friendship networks. In the case of waria, there were readily identifiable rural role models available. Indonesian lesbian and gay media exist, primarily magazines, although television chat shows and magazine articles reflect straight Indonesian interest in lesbi/gay/waria issues. It's stimulating to realise that as with Christianity, Islamic societies have considerable variations in terms of their openness to lesbian and gay social spaces. Our Indonesian counterparts may be at the beginning of their quest for social space and human rights, but they are trendsetters in the world's most populous Islamic nation. *Lesbi is a loanword for women who love women. Craig Young - 16th May 2006