Transgenders seek equality at work

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta, Indonesia — Groups fighting for the rights of homosexuals and transgenders have demanded the government stop discrimination and support their right to work in the formal sector.

Non-governmental organizations Arus Pelangi, Srikandi Sejati Foundation and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), said that, in considering transgenders mentally ill, the government was limiting their opportunities to work in the formal sector.

"I want the public to know that transgenders can work as well, or even better, than those now working in the formal sector," Arus Pelangi chairman Rido Triawan said at a press conference recently.

He said the Association of American Psychologists had proven in 1973 that transgenders and homosexuals were not mentally ill, and that the Indonesian government should also recognize this.

Transgender Ienes Angela of the Srikandi Sejati Foundation told reporters at the press conference that the company she used to work for as telemarketer threatened to fire her unless she came to the office in men's clothing.

"I work by contributing my energy and my devotion, not by the way I dress," Ienes, who is now the foundation's finance administrator, said.

She pointed out that homosexuals did not suffer the same treatment as long as they did not cross-dress, "when in fact, we are the same, it is just because I have long hair and prefer to wear women's clothing".

The coordinator of Kuala Lumpur-based APNSW, Khartini Slamah, said that although the Malaysian government acknowledged transgenders were not mentally ill, in reality the situation was not much different than in Indonesia.

"In society, it is not much different. It is still up to companies to decide whether or not to employ transgenders, giving them perfect freedom to deny them employment," she said, explaining that companies feared they would lose their reputation and customers by employing transgenders.

"We are not asking for special privileges, we are only asking for our constitutional rights," Khartini said.

Rido admitted the groups still had a long way to go in fighting for their rights, but that "at least the government can start by admitting we are not mentally ill".

Separately, Manpower and Transmigration Ministry spokesman Irianto Simbolon told The Jakarta Post that when it came to employment, the government did not discriminate between sexes, but that it did recognize only two sexes -- male and female.

"There is just no new sex," he said, adding that transgenders would have no problem getting a job in the country if they only stuck to the gender they were born with.

back