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BGT rights group Arus Pelangi is pursuing justice for Faizal “Shakira” Harahap, a transsexual shot dead in a robbery last month, saying transgender groups were frequently targets of violence.

Arus Pelangi program coordinator Widodo Budidarmo said the coalition had brought the case to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Friday. “We hope the murderer will be apprehended soon,” he said.

Widodo said Komnas HAM would issue letters to the Menteng Police, Central Jakarta Police, Jakarta Police and the National Police on Monday so police would speed up the investigation into the case.

Shakira was killed on March 10 at Taman Lawang in Central Jakarta, a well known transgender red light district, when two assailants fired shots at a group of transsexuals gathered there.

She was hit in the chest while two friends, Agus “Venus” Yuliaman and Tantan “Astrid” Setianugraha, sustained injuries.

Widodo, who also witnessed the shooting, said there did not seem to be a motive for the shooting.

Police were quick to identify the shooter as a “short, fat and dark-skinned male”, but no further developments have emerged.

The Jakarta Post on Saturday spoke to representatives of the transgendered community in Jakarta, who said that because of their sexual orientation and way of life, they were targets of violence and derision.

“Last night [Friday], some teenage boys threw mineral water bottles at me from a car,” said Maya, who claims she “turned” transsexual because her parents used to abuse her when she was younger.

Maya, who has lived in Jakarta for two years, added she was recently the victim of a robbery when “some men punched me in the head and took my cell phone”.

“Ranti” Saefrudin, a transsexual prostitute from Medan, North Sumatra, said Shakira’s death unnerved her. “I feel anxious. I am afraid my customers may harbor ill intentions [toward me],” said Ranti, who has lived in the city for 12 years.

Rianti, however, poured scorn on transsexuals who annoyed other people. “That sort of behavior leads to the assumption that transsexuals are wicked. Innocent transsexuals are becoming victims because of that,” she said. (aaa)