Gay City News: Ancient Transsexuality in Indonesia

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Ancient Transsexuality in Indonesia
Asia Society film celebrates once-revered sect; Lincoln Center performance in
July
By Sam Oglesby
Gay City News
June 23-29, 2005
Vol. 4, Issue 25

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Shown at the Asia Society on June 17, "The Last Bissu" is a beautiful film by Rhoda Grauer that is part of a series of events celebrating vanishing cultures and the efforts to revive them. It follows the story of Puang Matoa Saidi, the high priest of an ancient transvestite order chosen in 1941. Once all powerful, the leaders of this pre-Islamic sect were honored advisors to the local rajas, the kings who ruled the land. Their gradual demise began as the system of royal courts declined.

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Quaint and unusual to Western eyes, the transvestite priest tradition is found in numerous traditional societies in India, Burma, Indonesia and other developing nations. More than simply an anachronism, the tradition has conferred legitimacy on gender-variant individuals whose social status might otherwise be compromised were it not for the sacred roles they play.