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)
<http://www.apnsw.org/>,
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 <http://www.apa.org/>
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.
