Kety Haji Jalla is an educator and political activist in an unusually tolerant part of Indonesia. The province of North Maluku is one of the least densely populated in Indonesia. Its capital, the island city Ternate, rests in the shadow of a spectacular volcanic dome. There, Kety Haji Jalla serves her community as an educator, imparting life and job skills where a large portion of the economy is powered by low-paying agricultural work. A former politician from incumbent president Joko Widodo’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), she is supporting like-minded office seekers across eastern Indonesia as a respected matriarch. But since she is a transgender woman, Indonesia as a whole is debating her place in society as intolerant rhetoric and targeted violence is on the rise ahead of this week’s contentious elections. | 