Independen --- That afternoon in Semarang, before entertaining the neighborhood, Hani swiftly took out her makeup kit from her purse. She started to apply pink lipstick on her lips.
Hani was a transgender person from Semarang, Central Java.
The accessories that she wore, her purse, her rings, her dress, and her shoes showed that she knew fashion, and she got style.
When she was ready, she said goodbye to her mother, who had fallen ill due to a stroke that slowly gnawed her body over the years. Currently, she lived with her mother and her younger sister, who was still in junior high school.
Hani was the backbone of the family. Since her father died, she had to work hard for her family. She became the family’s figurehead, who was responsible for everyone’s welfare.
On the way to work, Hani talked about the many dreadful things she experienced. Starting from extortion, intimidation, harassment, and various rejections from communities, including even her closest family members.
“In the past, my family told me to not wear women’s clothes at home,” she said, reminiscing the darker times she had.
Her family had been embarrassed at first, but over time, they gradually accepted her chosen way of life.
She was often bullied and mocked. But she never minded them.
"I am used to the negative stigma against me. But we are only given one chance to live, so, better to be useful to others," she explained.
We finally arrived at her “workplace.”
“Excuse me, I have to perform, entertaining the residents,” she said, her hand raised to a stage filled with musical instruments.
That day, Hani was invited by a nearby neighborhood to sing with a local music group. Laughter from the audience broke when she started singing. In an instant, Hani took over the stage.
Hani was often hired as a singer because not only was she good at it but also because she was good at making people laugh while doing it.
After performing, Hani went back to see me. We had agreed to meet nearby, next to a resident’s house.
Even though she looked tired, Hani was still excited to talk about her journey as a transwoman.
“Actually, I have a lot of stories. But I will tell you later when we arrived,” she said.
The sky was getting dark, a sign that the city would soon be raining in a matter of minutes. Her suspicion was correct. Five minutes later, the rain fell. Some parts of our clothes got wet, luckily, the place we were going to was already close.
“Wow, everything is wet,” said Hani after the rain.
When we arrived, Hani looked for the nearest fan hoping that she could dry her clothes quickly. Next, a cup of coffee and fried tofu to go with our conversation.
The Life of a Transgender Person during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Maghrib call for prayer echoed, and the roaring sound of the rain got louder as the sun began to get set. While waiting for the call to be over, Hani replied to the WhatsApp messages from her friends.
The time was 6.30 PM WIB (Western Indonesian Time). Hani continued her story on the discrimination that she and her other transgender friends during the Covid-19 pandemic in Semarang. She said that some of her friends could not get any Covid-19 assistance for not having proper identification.
According to her, proof of identity is a classic and most common problem for transgender people. Besides, the public’s view against transgender people was still negative.
“There are still many people who take a dim view of transgender people, even with a negative impression. We were often made fun of. We are human too. We have the right to live in our own country,” she complained.
Despite that, Hani was aware of the social phenomena around her. She and her friends could not force society.
They could only be introspective. The most essential thing was members of Perwaris (Semarang Transgender Association) had to be polite and friendly to everybody.
To Hani, Perwaris was her second home. The community was where she could make new friends who were transgender people like her.
And it was like having a new family that would always protect and fights for her rights as an Indonesian citizen.
That was why Hani stayed in the organization. Formed in 2006, currently, 125 transgender people were members of Perwaris.
In addition to discrimination, the transgender people in Semarang often became victims of extortion by thugs around the spots where they like to gather.
From 9.30 PM WIB, the transgender people of Semarang would gather in two “bases,” “base A” and “base B” as they like to call it. Both bases had their own problems.
In base A, the problem was extortion. They were often being asked for Rp20,000 (US$1.34) per person. On average, every night, there would be at least ten transgender people hanging around in base A.
“We do not dare to fight in fear that something [worse] might happen. We prefer to give them money even though we have not made any yet,” Hani said.
While on base B, the transgender people were often terrorized by being pelted with stones, and plastic bags filled with sewage water, human feces, and even urine. Those kinds of terrors happened almost every day.
Even though after every “attack,” the transgender group tried to find out the culprit, they had not succeeded. To date, they still did not know why and who was the mastermind or perpetrator behind the acts.
“Actually, we want to know [who did it] to understand the motive. Why would suddenly terrorize us? That was not good behavior,” Hani added while checking her notes.
She viewed that the condition of transgender people in Semarang made her heartache. She experienced it herself, how hard it had been to make a living in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic in Semarang, Hani’s income was not enough to feed her family, unlike before the outbreak.
“Well, it’s not enough. But we could make do. Anyway, we just live with it,” she said.
Most of the transgender people in Semarang opened up hair salons, including Hani. Before the pandemic, Hani’s salon—located in Sunan Kuning red-light district, could get a Rp 400,000 profit a day.
In total, Hani’s monthly income was around Rp 6 million from her hair salon business. But when the government closed the area in 2019, she lost her income. Hani had no other option but to be a sex worker.
She could make Rp 300,000 a day, but when the Covid-19 pandemic broke, many hotels she often went to rejected her out of fear.
“I also feel sorry for my friends. Many are jobless and ultimately have no income. Even though they have to pay for their rent and meal every day,” she sighed.
Some of them even received repressive treatment from Semarang Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers.
The officers would shave their heads and forced one of the transwomen to take off her shirt before taking them to their office. The transwomen were then let go.
Perwaris chairperson Silvi Mutiari said that the harassment by the Public Order Agency occurred on Saturday, April 18. The victim was busking in an intersection when Satpol PP officers suddenly arrived and raided the area.
Afterward, officers took the victim to their office in Jalan Ronggolawe, Gisikdrono, West Semarang subdistrict, where they sexually harassed her.
Even though she was not the only one to be taken away during the raid, the officers focused on harassing her. Her head was shaved off, and was forced to take off her clothes. The victim admitted that she was heavily traumatized by that event.
“The Public Order Agency officers harassed her. Equating the victim with a man. That was why they sheared all her hair and forced the victim to be shirtless,” Mutiari explained.
Aside from sexual harassment, transgender people also often became crime victims, even in public spaces. They were mugged, their smartphone or purse containing cash were taken.
Kalibanteng was one of such crime scenes.
“Many thugs snatched handphones or bags containing cash in Kalibanteng area," Mutiari added.
“When it rains it pours” would probably the best idiom to reflect the lives of transgender people in Semarang. The Covid-19 pandemic already made it hard for them to make a living, yet, they still had to face sexual harassment and robbery.
Even with the hardship that her group continued to experience, Mutiari chose to remain silent. This was not without reason, Mutiari had reported many cases to the authority, but they were never taken seriously.
Because of her bad experience, Mutiari was pessimistic whenever she filed a report on incidents where transgender people were the victim.
Chief of Semarang Public Order Officer Fajar Purwanto did not deny the incident on April 18. He admitted that his officers shaved off the hair on a transwoman.
However, Purwanto refused to be blamed since, according to him, a clean shave had been the standard regulation for Semarang Satpol PP. He also claimed that the “regulation” had existed before he became Chief of Satpol PP.
“The clean-shave ‘sentence’ has indeed become the internal standard for Semarang Satpol PP,” said Purwanto.
Yet, he denied the sexual harassment charge or claim that his officers forced a transwoman to go shirtless. Purwanto thought it would be impossible because it was against the rule.
“No, Not possible. We are still normal people here,” Purwanto answered.
Updating the Help System
Rumah Pelangi Indonesia program manager Gabriel Eel said that the government needed to update its aid beneficiaries' data collection system to ensure that funds go to the right persons.
“The data collected so far is based on KK [family identity cards]. This certainly makes it difficult for vulnerable groups who have no identity cards," Eel said.
There were specific reasons why they did not have proper identification. Most of them were reluctant to go back to their families—often because of being victims of abuse by their own family members.
"Whether it’s physical or psychological,” said Eel.
This problem, he continued, was characteristically caused by rejection and stigma experienced by transgender people.
For example, being kicked out of their family home or forced to flee at a young age might hinder transgender people from possessing proper identification.
Some things that seemed to be taken for granted to others were actually complicated for this vulnerable community.
Responding to this, Head of Semarang Population and Civil Registration Office Adi Tri Hananto claimed that his office held no discrimination in issuing the National Identity Cards (KTP).
According to him, as long as transgender people has an address and family identification card (KK), his office will issue an identification card. However, he said that the Office could not assign a different gender than the one stated in other official documents.
“When the two requirements are fulfilled, then we can issue an identity card according to the original documents. But we cannot change the gender information. If the documents said male, then it cannot be changed to female. So, it has to be according to their birth certificate,” Hananto explained.
Even though his Office could not change the gender, Hananto suggested if a transgender person would like to have their gender change be officially registered in their identification, then they could ask for a court order.
“Actually, [they can] file for a court order like the celebrity Lucinta Luna. So, there is another way to file for the new identity through the court,” he said.
When a court order is issued, Hananto continued, then his Office can make the change according to the preference of the transgender person.
“Even though a transgender person already had plastic surgery, they still need to file for a court order before going to the Population and Civil Registration Office,” he added.
Head of the Minority and Vulnerable Groups Division at Semarang Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) Naufal Sebastian felt that the government need to pay attention to this specific issue. Because during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, transgender people are also entitled to receive assistance.
According to him, having a valid identification card is needed for accountability purposes, documenting where the aid is being channeled. However, it should not become a barrier for transgender communities to receive help. After all, they are Indonesian citizens too.
"Maybe we can find other alternatives, such as photographs or other data. Because this is a humanitarian matter, where there are people who are in need and are entitled to,” Sebastian said.
Contributor: Dafi Yusuf
