International Day of Democracy; Transgender People's Right to Vote Is Still Denied
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26 September 2022 14:46 WIB
Left after Fun
The first visit to Jopu Village, Ende Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, was eye-opening to Hendrika Mayora Victoria who is the chairperson of Fajar Sikka, a trans women community that is based in Maumere of Sikka Regency. Ibu Mayora—as she is familiarly called— had just found out that only one of 30 trans women residing in the regency has an ID card. “If we did not carry out the mapping, we would never know,” she said on July 21.
That morning, Mayora visited Jopu Village to launch their first survey. Fajar Sikka planned to collect data on trans women in Sikka and its vicinity areas in a bid to help them register for ID cards collectively. “ID cards application service has not reached remote areas,” said Mayora, who was elected as the chairperson of the Habi Village Consultative Body (BPD), Sikka, in mid-2020.
Reaching Jopu Village from Habi Village by car took an hour. Armed with a pen and a notebook, Mayora came to the trans women one by one across the village which she visited for the first time. Not all of them could be met due to health problems.
Inces, a trans woman in Jopu Village, explained the reasons behind the low number of trans women having ID cards. Inces whose real name is Vincensius Laperlaka was the only trans woman who owned an identity card. She was born and raised in Kampung Adat Wologai, Jopu. “I made tenun ikat (woven fabric) for a living,” she said when met at her home.
Inces' house is located at the foot of Mount Kelimutu. In the house with a soil ground, thatched roof, and bamboo walls, she lives with her three brothers and an elderly mother.
As the backbone of the family, Inces could produce 1x2 meter tenun ikat within one to two weeks which is sold between Rp500,000 to Rp1 million, depending on the level of complexity, to traders in Ende City. It takes almost two hours by road from the Wologai Traditional Village to the capital of Ende Regency via the Kelimutu National Park.
According to her, encouraging trans women in Jopu Village to apply for ID cards was not a piece of cake. Other than extra efforts and money to spend on transport, trans women often received discriminatory treatment and even verbal abuse in the process. “The problem is in the governmental areas when [trans women] visit there. Some [regional officers] ask, ‘What did they come for? As a what?’” Inces recalled. While in fact, the village government asked them to manage the application by themselves.
Inces had just pocketed an ID card ahead of the 2019 General Elections thanks to a priest. The religious leaders, she opined, played a vital role in NTT. “If the priest did not help me, I would never get it.”
Despite having an ID card, Inces nearly had the same fate as other trans women in Jopu Village who lost their rights to vote in the elections. She received a C1 form ahead of the voting day but as she visited the polling station in Wologai Village, the election officials accused her of having a double name. “[In my defense,] I said I only have one ID card,” said Inces, recalling the unpleasant event that occurred three years ago. “I explained that Vincensius is my name. Bunda Inces is my nickname.”
It was an annoying moment for Inces to date, especially given the fact that she actively took part in the campaign prior to the voting day.
For three months, Inces was involved in a number of volunteer activities for Wolocita, a support group of Joko Widodo or Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin in the area. Inces, who is commonly known as Bunda Inces, was indeed quite famous. She was good at singing and close to church figures. Inces was also often asked to lead a prayer for the candidate’s success before meals during campaign activities. “But after the campaign, they just disappeared. That was a bitter experience.”
Mayora, who listened to Inces' story, had a similar experience in 2019 when she was appointed to lead a campaign for Sikka’s legislative candidate for the House of Representatives (DPR).
For eight months, Mayora departed for work in the early morning and returned home at night, visiting one village to another and calling for the victory of the cadre from one of the major parties in Indonesia. “I am a master of ceremonies in villages while riding a motorbike. I introduced the candidate to the public,” said Mayora, adding that she was also asked to campaign for Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin pair between the agenda.
Mayora agreed to the request as she was promised that the candidate she supported and Jokowi's winning team in NTT would pay attention to the basic rights of trans women, including ID cards, BPJS Kesehatan, and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. “Did we get their attention after that? No way. Perhaps they were busy. They forgot about their people,” she said.
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Mayora deserved to be upset for not getting an ID card albeit being a campaigner. As a result, she could not participate in the 2019 general elections and the presidential election. “During the election, I cleaned the house, washed dishes, and made my bedroom,” she said. “I couldn’t cast a vote.”
Mayora finally got an ID card in 2020. She and Fajar Sikka were then determined to fight for the political rights of trans women by helping them in the ID card registration process, which was long neglected by the government. “So we will continue to collect data,” she said.
Based on Fajar Sikka's data, at least 300 trans women live in Maumere. Of that number, only 100 people have ID cards. If they do not immediately get their citizen documents, more than half of them will be at risk of losing their right to vote again in the upcoming general elections and presidential election which will be held simultaneously on February 14, 2024.
According to Hartoyo, transgender women are usually involved in election-related events. “No other reasons, we usually entertain people, become singers and make-up artists at campaign events,” he said. “We can easily attract public attention."
The problem is, the general elections do not guarantee the fulfillment of transgender rights as Indonesian citizens. Other than having no access to vote because of lacking citizen documents, trans women are marginalized again after the democracy party. “This is a very important issue: what will happen after the election?” Hartoyo underlined.
The guarantee of equal treatment from the state, he went on, is highly necessary outside of election matters. Not a few trans women who have owned ID cards refuse to exercise their rights. They are skeptical of discrimination committed by officers to date.
Mama Echi, Head of the West Jakarta Transgender Community, seconded Hartoyo’s statement. She opined that many members of the transgender community are reluctant to go to the polls. “Some also ask the purpose,” Echi said, describing trans women's desperation for the general election. “Honestly, trans women want to be seen. We are the same, Indonesian citizens.”
Like Mayora and Inces, Echi and her community were also mobilized in the campaign. On April 13, 2019, trans women throughout Jakarta were asked to take part in a grand campaign at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. She remembered that hundreds of trans women were ordered to wear white clothes for the event.
