A crackdown against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Indonesia is leading to a rise in HIV infections and causing a public health crisis, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW), CNN reports. Over the past two years, the LGBT issue has been used as a political weapon in efforts to seize voters’ support in local elections. Ahead of the upcoming national election in 2019, there is every risk the issue will be used in this way again, writes Febriana Firdaus for The Interpreter. Nearly 90 percent of Indonesians who understand the term LGBT feel “threatened” by the community and believe their religion forbids same-sex relations, according to a survey carried out by the Saiful Mujani Research Centre. More than 300 people were arrested in 2017 for alleged LGBT-behavior, according to HRW.