Dessy Sagita & Zaky Pawas – As the National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday told police to investigate hard-liners from the Islamic Defenders Front for raiding and forcefully shutting down a civil-rights training session for transsexuals last month, a transsexual said such intimidation would not deter her or her friends from attending future sessions.
"Any activity that educates should be supported, not dissolved. We expect being treated as equals. No such acts will scare me or my friends," Merlyn Sopjan, head of the Malang Transsexuals Association (Iwama), told the Jakarta Globe.
"To intimidate someone in the name of religion will only worsen the image of that hard-line group because many Indonesian Muslims despise their violent acts."
Merlyn was referring to last month's raid in Depok, when dozens of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) members charged into a session organized by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
Meanwhile, Komnas HAM commissioner Hestiarmi Wulan pushed police to investigate the raid. "That raid insulted the commission, because we were in the midst of giving a human-rights training session. Our job is to impart knowledge of one's legal rights to society. Transsexuals are a part of our society."
Police were unable to do much when the group burst into a room at the Bumi Wiyata Hotel in Depok where the training session was being held, panicking about 25 transsexuals present.
The FPI's Depok chapter head, Idrus Al-Ghodri, said the training should be halted because it recognized the transsexual community. Idrus said his organization also believed the organizers had not asked permission from local community leaders, the Depok city authority and the police.
The head of the Depok Police detective unit, Comr. Ade Rahmat, has said the FPI members came in the erroneous belief that it was a drag-queen contest. The disruption lasted just 15 minutes before the FPI members, in long white tunics and white skull caps, left after negotiations with the police, Ade said.
He added that the event had been planned to be capped by a contest to elect a transsexual ambassador of human rights.
There were no injuries in the incident but some glass was broken. Ade said that the police didn't find any permit violation regarding the training.
Nurkholis, deputy head of Komnas HAM, said: "Minority groups like transsexuals, gays and lesbians are very prone to human-rights violations. They have to deal with negative stigma on a daily basis, that's why they need to understand everything about human rights.
"They need to know that everybody is equal before law, and that therefore they need to stand up and defend themselves when being abused or harassed."