Petitioners are set on banning gay sex in Indonesia and will plead their case again in the Constitutional Court today.

Anti-LGBTI groups appeared in court on 23 August and urged the court to put a criminal ban on homosexual sex as well as sex between unmarried people.

Today will be the third time they are able to present witnesses to support their case.

The group consisting of academics and activists claimed last Tuesday that ‘not only was the country on the verge of a crisis of sexual morality, but it was at risk of having its core Muslim values overridden by international human rights claims that embrace LGBTI rights’.

Chairman of the national Child Protection Commission, Asrorun Ni’am Sholeh asked for a five-year prison sentence to be imposed for homosexual acts. He also claimed that gay sex tends to be repeated because ‘there is a factor of addiction in it’.

He believes banning gay sex and gay marriage would strengthen the state’s responsibility to protect the rights of children, because ‘a crisis of sexual morality puts the nation’s children at risk’.

Hamid Chalid, a constitutional law expert at the University of Indonesia urged the court to stand up for the rights of religious groups to ensure the protection of moral values.

“Our country has legalized fornication, male rape, and homosexual acts,” he said. “We’ve allowed our constitution to become too liberal — is that what we want?”

He also claimed that attacks on LGBTI people can be seen as evidence that homosexuality is against the ‘wishes of the people’.

The opposition consisting of government lawyers had little to say during the hearing, but one attorney warned the court that criminalizing pre-marital sex could lead to broad repercussions.

‘If we do this, the sinner becomes a criminal … and the government becomes authoritarian,’ he said.

The group will appear in court again today with new testimonies and new witnesses, however the ruling date has yet to be set.