Solidarity for Nancy, Pioneer of the LGBTI Movement in Indonesia

Nancy's latest Photo

Nancy Iskandar or better known as Ibu Nancy is one of the pioneers of the transwomen’s movement in Indonesia. Currently she is 66 years old. Ibu Nancy has been coming in and out as a transgender woman at the age of 16.

Her works in the world of activism in Indonesia has made several history for the LGBTI Movement in Indonesia, particularly the history of the transwomen movement. She is one of the founders of the first transwomen organization in Indonesia named Himpunan Wadam Djakarta (HIWAD) in 1974. At HIWAD, Ibu Nancy served as Deputy Chair. As deputy chairperson, Ibu Nancy strengthened the transwomen community in Jakarta, even in 1974, they managed to hold an audience with the Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin which took place at Balai Kota. This hearing aimed to ensure the protection of transwomen groups who work as sex workers and street singer because in that year the level of violence perpetrated by gangsters and unknown persons against transwomen sex workers was rather high. In addition, HIWAD had also protested against the famous artist and singer Benyamin Sueb regarding his movie Bety Bencong Slebor because it was considered as harassing transwomen. Not to forget, Indonesian singer Hety Koesendang was also protested by Ibu Nancy and other transwomen at HIWAD because some of her song lyrics were very discriminatory against transwomen. Through this protest, the two artists eventually became regular donors for HIWAD’s events.

Nancy performs her show at the National Skilled Transgender Election event, Taman Ismail Marzuki, 1995

Nancy presents cases of transwomen murder victims at a discussion event in 2005.

After HIWAD disbanded, Ibu Nancy expanded her activism through art activities by joining the Fantastic Dolls from 1985 to 1993 as a magician, snake dancer and dancer. Fantastic Dolls are an art group consisting of transwomen, which encouraged public acceptance of transwomen through performing arts. In the same year until 2002, Ibu Nancy was also the first transwomen who became the honorary public official in DKI Jakarta. She acted as an honorary officer at the Jakarta Social Service to provide training and skills provision for transwomen, disabilities groups, and street children.

When she worked at the Jakarta Social Service in 1996, she taught transgender skills at Jakarta.

In 1993, Ibu Nancy and several transwomen formed again the Jakarta Waria Communication Forum (FKW Jakarta) and she was elected as the vice chairman. Then she was re-elected as chairman for 3 periods to replace the late Ms. Mirna. Through FKW Jakarta, Ibu Nancy has continued to actively handle cases of transwomen in Jakarta. Some of the cases she handled were the shooting of 3 transwomen at Taman Anggrek in 2003, the shooting of transwomen at Taman Lawang in 2010, as well as other cases.

Nancy and several LGBTI organizations held an audience at the PDI-P Party faction in 2008

In 1998, she was elected as the Trustee of the Skrikandi Sejati Foundation (YSS), a transgender women's organization that focuses on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Then in 2005-2019 she became an HIV/AIDS counselor at YSS. Since 2010 until today, Ibu Nancy is still active as the Advisory Board for Sanggar Swara, a transwomen organization which actively works for advocacy and education of the transwomen community in the Jakarta area.

Demonstration of demands for transgender work rights in front of the presidential office, Istana Merdeka, 2007

Since the last 5 years, Ibu Nancy's health has continued to deteriorate. Ibu Nancy was diagnosed with narrowing of the heart vessels in the left and right ventricles. Doctors advised Ibu Nancy to immediately perform surgery and ring insertion. However, due to her health condition and age factors, Ibu Nancy is no longer working, making it difficult to meet her medical needs. Even though the surgeries have been funded by the BPJS, Ibu Nancy still needs funds for routine medical needs, the cost of renting a house and daily meals and routine check-up fees. The total fund that Ibu Nancy needs is USD 5,268. This total fund is estimated to last for the next 6 months.

This fundraising initiated by Crisis Response Mechanism (CRM) Consortium,

CRM is a consortium that focuses on prevention, handling and resource mobilization crises faced by LGBTI individuals and groups in Indonesia. CRM was founded in 2018 which consists of 5 organizations, namely Arus Pelangi (https://www.aruspelangi.or.id), GWL-Ina (www.gwl-ina.or.id), LBH Masyarakat (https://lbhmasyarakat.org/) , UNAIDS Indonesia (https://www.unaids.org) and Sanggar Swara (@transchoolswara).

Contact/Contact Person:

[email protected] | Kanzha Vinaa (+62817-7522-0878)Ichon (+62811-634-7919) |

If you don't use paypal, you can send a donation to

Account Number: 166-000-277-8736 (Mandiri Bank)

Account Holder: Perkumpulan Sanggar Swara

Swift Code: BMRIIDJA