Indonesia facilitates transgender community with digital and physical IDs 

Transgenders Indonesians will be able to vote for the first time in the country’s upcoming elections on February 14. It is typical for transgender youths to be counted among the county’s homeless population thereby lessening their chances of obtaining a national identification cards. For those with IDs, another issue having the sex they were born displayed on their ID. To change gender identity on a legal document in Indonesia it requires that the person undergo a reassignment surgery.  

The development comes as a result several interventions from various stakeholder groups. For instance, volunteers of Saura Kita, a Jakarta-based LBGTQ+ rights group assist by taking photos and standing guarantor for a number of youths. Government has also decentralised the work of the department in the Home Affairs Ministry that deals with the lost of IDs, an initiative that has reduced the lead time for processing from three months to one week, and in some cases one hour. 

Why does it matter? 

Initiatives like these offer a glimmer of hope for integration into the wider society as living in a hyper-conservative Islamic nation is for many in the transgender community in Indonesia a constant threat to their very existence.