In Indonesia, transgender women are known as waria, a
combination of the Indonesian words for man and woman.
Although waria have long been part of Javanese culture, they are
shut out of most formal work opportunities and live at the margins
of society. Transgender women have few opportunities to worship,
as their defiance of strict gender categorisation challenges
conservative Muslim views about gender. Al Fatah Pesantren is -
according to its leader- the only Muslim academy or madrasa for
transgender people in the world. The madrasa was recently
shutdown by officials in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta region following
protests by a radical Islamic group.
Award-winning Indonesian photographer Kemal Jufri's career started in 1996 when he joined Agence-France Presse (AFP). He left AFP two years later and worked as a photo contributor for Asiaweek until the magazine closed down in 2001. Since then he has worked as a freelance photographer across Asia for major publications, including Newsweek, TIME, The New York Times, STERN and Der Spiegel. His photographs of the Mount Merapi eruptions in Central Java at the end of 2010 won him a total of seven awards from five prestigious International Photojournalism competitions including the World Press Photo, Picture of The Year International, NPPA Best of Photojournalism, China International Press Photo Contest and Prix De La Photographie Paris (PX3).
