The news was broken by her friend and fellow singer Hetty Sunjaya.

“She died of COVID-19, so she will not be brought back home. She will be shrouded at the hospital,” Hetty said on Wednesday, as quoted by detik.com.

Dorce, who also had a long list of other illnesses, was infected by COVID-19 and had been hospitalized for three weeks. She was rushed to the hospital and remained unconscious until her death.

"Please pray for her and forgive her mistakes," Hetty said, adding that Dorce would be buried under COVID-19 protocols.

Born on July 21, 1963 in Solok, West Sumatra, Dorce was a singer, actress, comedian and presenter. She made her name as the host of a morning talk show called Dorce Show in 2005, gaining nationwide popularity and referred to as Bunda (Mother) Dorce, with some claiming her to be Indonesia’s Oprah Winfrey.

Dorce is a renowned trans woman, publicly telling her experience of gender dysphoria when she was 7 years old and her journey into accepting herself as a woman. Dorce began to wear women's clothes in her teens, eventually getting her name during her time in the trans-women-led dance group Fantastic Dolls. She later underwent sex reassignment surgery in Surabaya in 1983. Her gender change was officially recognized in 1986 under the name Dorce Ashadi. Her stage name was derived from Mount Gamalama in Ternate.

Dorce started to gain popularity in show business in the 1990s, with two movies called Dorce Sok Akrab (Too-Chummy Dorce) and Dorce Ketemu Jodoh (Dorce Found Her Partner), in which she was the lead actress. She has released multiple pop and dangdut albums, even achieving an Indonesian World Records Museum (MURI) record of releasing nine albums in the span of five months, from November 2005 to March 2006.

After the Dorce Show got canceled in 2009, Dorce only appeared in other TV shows as a guest star. Dorce was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and kidney stones in 2021. She also had Alzheimer's and had reportedly fallen ill from hypotension.

In January 2021, Dorce's health continued to deteriorate, which led her to prepare for her Islamic funeral. In her will, she wished to be buried as a woman, which caused a backlash from prominent religious figures who deemed that she should be identified as a man.

Dorce’s trans identity has been widely accepted in the country and her life story has inspired many. Her famous autobiography Aku Perempuan (I Am a Woman) was published in 2005. But Dorce also has a conservative view of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) community.

"I’ve never been offended [when others talk about LGBT people] because I thought I am not part of them. I am a part of my own self,” she said in 2018, as quoted by nakita.id.

“I am officially recognized by the District Court, I am not a fake woman, it is girl with girl relationships that are banned [in Islam],” she said in 2016 while visiting actor Saipul Jamil during his time in prison, as quoted by KapanLagi.com.

Dorce was a well-known philanthropist and has four adopted children and six grandchildren. She owned a number of orphanages and a free school for orphans.

Condolences for Bunda Dorce are pouring in on social media from celebrities and public figures across generations.

“Indonesia has lost a ‘Bunda’ figure who is very dear to us all. My deepest condolences for the passing of Bunda Dorce Gamalama,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir wrote on Twitter.

“I can testify that Bunda is a good person, she never treated anyone differently, be it a new artist or the President,” Eko Patrio, Dorce’s former cohost on a show called Kencan (It’s a Date), said on Instagram. “[She] was always willing to share roles [and] give her fortune to those in need. Farewell, Bun.”

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