This is not a new thing for Maesur Zaky, a CRCS 2002 alumnus, to struggle with marginalized community for their rights. He works as program manager of Persatuan Keluarga Berencana Indonesia (PKBI) for youth center. He is well-known throughout the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities in Yogyakarta and in other places including in HIV/AIDS communities. These all started from his struggle with them.
His work at PKBI now is prioritized to be done in the communities. “The process in PKBI is to strengthen the communities, for them who are marginalized such as transgender/transsexual, sex workers, young people without home and job, and for them who do marginalization like the mainstream youths. So, both are intervened. For them who are marginalized, they would be strengthened to be able to advocate for themselves, and for the people who marginalize those people would be able to reduce the stigmas and discrimination to the marginalized people.”
When he was still CRCS studying, Zaky already joint PKBI. During that time, he was the coordinator for the Research Division. He passed some interesting time at CRCS which also contributed to his work. He has a paradigm or perception from the study that he reconsidered has shaped his views. Zaky said that he had classes at CRCS which affected his views. “The interesting thing about CRCS is its approaches about a perspective which is decentering, it means not to be centered, and if I am not mistaken, Pak Prajarta taught it from the cultural perspectives, but do not use a framework that centralizes territory.” He added that “At the level of perspective that is so useful to see the social facts that are not merely at the center and at the edge. All could be in at the center and edge, that is useful to run the framework of PKBI.”
This humble man still has a motivation to pursue a PhD program in the future. He got this motivation after he joined a short-course in Australia. His interests in gender and medical anthropology will lead him to choose his field or specification that he dreams of.
At the end with interview with Zaky, he gave hope to CRCS. Zaky said that, “To learn discourses at CRCS is ideal. The important thing is that the meaningful theoretical discussions at CRCS would be better if CRCS has basis of organizing, that means the students activities go to field research/work are not in a frame of short term, but in long term. The output of it could be for the communities. The roles of CRCS in communities would be empowering/strengthening them by the models of organizing.” This means, we have to give better images rather than like colleges or universities in general which do not address social problem and contribute to social problems. (JMI)
