Pro-LGBT Starbucks is ruining Indonesia, claims religious leader
By Ross Semple
The leader of a religious organisation in Indonesia has called for a boycott of Starbucks over the company’s pro-LGBT+ values.
Anwar Abbas of Muhammadiyah, a Muslim organisation with a membership of almost 30 million, wants Starbucks to have its licence to operate in the country revoked because the company’s values are “not in line” with Indonesian values. He argued that Starbucks is tainting the “religious and cultured” core of life in the country.
Speaking to Reuters at the weekend, Abbas said: “If Starbucks only does business, then fine. But don’t bring ideology here.”
Starbucks, founded in the US state of Seattle, has long been a supporter of LGBT+ rights. Stores across the world are currently adorned with rainbow decor to celebrate Pride.
Howard Schultz, current chairman of the company, is a fervent supporter of equality. In 2013, after a shareholder threatened to pull their investment over the company’s support of equal marriage, Schultz reiterated Starbucks’ support for LGBT+ rights.
Schultz told the investor: “If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 per cent you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company.”
The company that operates Starbucks in Indonesia, PT Sari Coffee Indonesia, responded by saying that their company “always obeys the prevailing regulations and appreciates the cultural values in Indonesia.”
While homosexuality is legal in most of Indonesia, gay sex is banned under the strict sharia code of Aceh, a semi-autonomous region of the country.
In May, a gay couple were punished by 85 strokes of a cane in a public ceremony in the country, after they were convicted of homosexuality.
The two men were initially arrested after neighbours apparently noticed that the students had been “acting lovey dovey” for the past few months and decided to alert the authorities.
Their home was broken into by a group of men who beat the couple, who pleaded with their attackers to not tell the authorities.
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