Changing perceptions through social media
Three Indonesian transgenders are chosen as models for LINE stickers
Waya Lucky AYAN Diah Pithaloka, Cika Pracillia Nasution and Reza didn’t hesitate when asked about their hopes after being chosen as models for stickers to be sold in the sticker market of Japan-based mobile chat application LINE, edition Say Cyin, which features the colloquialisms of the Indonesian transgender community.
“We want to prove to society that we can also achieve great things. We are better than the transgender stereotypes used to stigmatise us,” said Lucky on behalf of all three during a press conference held to launch the stickers in South Jakarta last Wednesday.
Lucky, a 32-year-old beauty salon owner who was chosen as a Miss Law and Human Rights by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said that she was able to show to the world that transgender people could also achieve things and contribute to society.
She expressed regret that many jobs suited to transgender people were given to cisgender people. “Lots of actors act like us. Why not just hire us? Lots of transgender people are talented comedians and actors, for example,” she said.
Lucky added that the creative industry, the sector most suited to hiring transgender people, still discriminated against them. “There’s a perceived idea that we’re not capable of being professional,” she said.
The sentiment was shared by Lucky’s colleague Cika, a model. “I hope that society can recognise us as regular human beings. We also have talents and are professional,” she said.
Cika said she had been taken aback at the offer to be a sticker model, but was glad that the revenue from the stickers would go to a transgender elderly nursing home owned by Yulianus Rettoblaut, better known as Mami Yuli, a transgender rights activist.
“I hope this can be a stepping stone for other transgender people to become faces of the creative industry,” she said.
Joza Bayu, a senior executive at creative agency Dentsu Indonesia, which designs the stickers, said that words like rempong (bothersome), cyin (love), cucok (well-matched) and ember (indeed) were colloquial words used by Indonesians.
“Such terms enliven our conversation, but not many people know and acknowledge that they were created by the transgender community,” he said.
The terms, Joza added, were initially used as a form of bonding and recognition among the transgender community. “Now the terms represent the contribution of transgender people to popular culture,” he said.
Joza said his company wanted to give the recognition that the community deserved by creating the stickers. “We have 40 expressions featuring four transgender models,” he said.
The revenue from the stickers, he added, would also be used for the welfare of the transgender community.
Mami Yuli, head of the Indonesian Transgender Communication Forum (FKWI), said that she appreciated the efforts of Dentsu to recognise the language.
She added that despite the terms’ popularity, the transgender community earned no advantage. “That’s why we want the revenue of the stickers to be dedicated to transgender people,” she said.
Yuli said that the transgender nursing home, funded by FKWI members and donors, was over capacity. “We have around 831 transgender aged 60 or above. We can only accommodate 20 people,” she said. Yuli said the nursing homes were essential for transgender people as many of them were cut off from their families. “We train them in skills like cooking pastries, so they can be independent,” she said.
