Transgenders plead to be recognised as humans
Published on: Saturday, May 02, 2015
Selangor: While decathlete Bruce Jenner struggles with media fanfare over his transition from man to woman, transgender people in Malaysia are still fighting to be recognised as human beings.Jenner, a former US Olympic gold medallist, recently revealed his decades long secret of being transgender.Transgender activist Nisha Ayub said an immediate concern for the community in Malaysia was the law, as it affected their access to education, employment, healthcare - and even bank loans.
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"When you can't change your gender on identity card, it becomes an obstacle to even fill up forms, "Nisha said."You will find that many transwomen fear going to public because they will be placed in all-male ward. Imagine having a pair of breast and being surrounded by men."The law, as it stands, completely denies us of our identity. We are not free to be who are. I see it as a health issue. The government and religious authorities need to consider that."Nisha, through right group Justice for Sisters, gained public attention last year for assisting three Muslims transwomen in challenging a Shariah legislation in Negri Sembilan, which outlaws men from dressing a women.
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In a landmark rulling last November, the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour.The panel of judges agreed with the transwomen that the law was discriminatory as it failed to recognise gender identity disorder.
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Nisha said she received "two to three reports" of transpeople being attacked every month."But a lot of them are afraid to speak out because they already feel like they are 'illegal' in the country," she said."Police stations are hardly welcoming places for transpeople. In many instances, when they file a report about being hurt or assaulted, they are blamed. They are told that they were 'asking for it'. That's the saddest part."A local study in 2011 had 55 per cent of 507 transwomen interviewed saying they were caught by police at some point.Of those detained, 71 per cent said they were forced to strip in front of officials, 47 per cent said they were shamed in front of others, and nine per cent said they were beaten.Nisha is also critical of "sensational media coverage" of transgender people that portray them as "deviants"."Many transgender people find themselves doing sex work because they no choice. Some companies will not hire us because they fear negative attention for doing so," she said."It is not easy to do sex work, to sell yourself to complete strangers. But if you have no options, how are you going to survive? Bruce Jenner may have his struggles but the situation there is completely different from what we are facing here."However, communications specialists Zaki Arzmi thinks celebrities like Jenner help increase the visibility of the transgender issue."We still have a long way to go here and these have been mostly foreign celebrities. But it does help increase discourse on gender identity, sexual orientation and so on," she said."I think it is about going back to values, the basics of how we threat each other. Instead of using religion as a tool to discriminate against transpeople, we need to remember the fundamentals of all religions – being compassionate and merciful to each other."Transgender advocate Mitch Yusof said the awareness of what means needed to come first before talking about offering any other kind of support."Many Malaysians just equate us to homosexuality, although gender identity and sexual orientation are two very different things," he said."There needs to be action from the top, like introducing sexual health education in schools and teaching students about gender and identity. At least young people now have the Internet. When I was figuring out my identity 38 years ago, I was completely lost and confused."Mitch said more homegrown scientific research on the local transgender community was needed as local authorities tend to shrug off international findings as "inapplicable to local culture".Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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