Did You Know Transgenders In Malaysia Suffer Badly From Abuse, Assault And Arrests?
The criminalisation of transgender people in Malaysia coupled with state-organised arrests have effectively made Malaysia one of the worst countries in the world for the transgender community.
By Mei Mei Chu — 25 Sep 2014, 02:51 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
Malaysia is among the worst countries in the world for transgenders, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today
Malaysia is one of the worst countries for transgender individuals living in the country, international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today. HRW’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Division’s advocacy director Boris Dittrich revealed this during the release of a 73-page report titled 'I'm Scared to be a Woman'.
malaysiakini.comThe 73-page report titled "I’m Scared To Be A Woman" details government abuses against transgender people in Malaysia
The 73-page report, “I’m Scared to Be a Woman: Human Rights Abuses against Transgender People in Malaysia,” documents government abuses against transgender people in Malaysia.
Transgender people in Malaysia face criminal prosecution under laws that effectively prohibit “cross-dressing” and discrimination in accessing employment, health care, and education. Transgender people have been fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, physically and sexually assaulted, and denied access to health care because of their gender identity.
The report, based on interviews with more than 40 transgender people, blamed "increasingly vitriolic" discourse by government officials, politicians and religious leaders in the Muslim-majority country for the deterioration in rights.
dnaindia.com
Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 40 transgender people who reported regular arrests, abuse and violation by the Religious Department and police
"Serafina," like many transgender women in Malaysia, has been arrested and sexually assaulted by state Religious Department officials for wearing women's clothing.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchIn research in four Malaysian states and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, Human Rights Watch found that state Religious Department officials and police regularly arrest transgender women and subject them to various abuses, including assault, extortion, and violations of their privacy rights. Religious Department officials have physically and sexually assaulted transgender women during arrest or in custody, and humiliated them by parading them before the media.
Official discrimination is compounded by other forms of discrimination for which the government provides little or no protection, Human Rights Watch found. Police routinely refuse to receive complaints of violence against transgender people by public officials or private individuals, or to conduct serious investigations, transgender women told Human Rights Watch. In some cases, police even threatened transgender complainants with arrest or sexually harassed them.
Some women had been jailed for up to three years for being a transgender. Not only were they placed in male wards, they faced sexual abuse, rape and humiliation from prison wardens and other inmates.
ellene, a transgender activist, plays the drums in a local band.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchIn prison, transgender persons claim to have been raped by prison wardens, and in one case was also forced by the warden to have sex with other prisoners about twice a week. Transgender women are placed in male prisons or lockups, where they allegedly face sexual abuse by fellow prisoners and are humiliated by the wardens.
malaysiakini.com“I was asked to strip naked in front of everyone,” said activist Nisha Ayub, recounting her three-month prison sentence in 2000 for cross-dressing in Malacca. “They made fun of my breasts, my implants. The wardens actually purposely asked me to show my breasts in front of all the other inmates, (taking me) from one cell to the other cell.
malaysiakini.com“It was something that I can’t forget until today. I was actually pleading to the warden, ‘Please don’t do this, please don’t do this,’ but he just ignored me. “It was really scary, because those men in there, those other inmates, when they look at me and they look at my breasts, they were screaming and shouting and cheering,” she said.
malaysiakini.comThose who were arrested are fined and forced to attend counselling sessions where the state Islamic Religious Department will lecture them on "being a man"
Many transgender women who are arrested are fined and forced into “counselling” sessions, where officials from the state Islamic Religious Department lecture them on “being a man.” Because the national government’s Registration Department routinely rejects transgender women’s applications to legally change their gender, Muslim transgender women are vulnerable to repeated arrests. One transgender woman told Human Rights Watch she had been arrested over 20 times.
The discriminatory practices at healthcare centres have forced transgenders to avoid seeking medical care as they fear embarrassment
Despite having experienced the risks of arrest and threats of violence of wearing
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchThe discriminatory practices at healthcare centres have also hampered HIV-prevention work, including instances where medical staff shouted ‘This man is going to an anonymous HIV screening!’ when calling for a transgender woman.
malaysiakini.comThe report said some transgender persons avoided seeking medical care fearing embarrassment, while others claimed that medical staff either refused to touch them or belittled them in front of their parents, or were ‘overly curious’ about their genitalia during physical examinations.
malaysiakini.comIt added that most transgender persons use hormones to alter their appearances and affirm their identity, but did so without seeking medical advice due to fear of stigma. As a result, many end up in overdose with dangerous side effects.
malaysiakini.comWidespread discrimination also makes it hard for them to seek employment as employers often reject them due to their gender identity
Transgender persons also face difficulty seeking employment, ranging from employers who reject them on basis of gender identity, to employers who “were more interested in her body than her job qualifications.”
malaysiakini.comWidespread discrimination by employers means a disproportionate number of transgender people end up working in the sex trade, where they face heightened risks.
reuters.com
In the report, transgender women recount harrowing experiences of being discriminated and assaulted by officials, agents, health workers and more
This transwoman said she was detained and sexually assaulted by Religious Department officials in early 2012, apparently because they were curious about her body:
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchVictoria, a transgender woman in the state of Negeri Sembilan, said she was arrested in 2011 by Religious Department officials, who stripped and sexually assaulted her: “They were rough. One of them squeezed my breasts. I was completely humiliated. …They stripped me completely naked. One of them took a police baton and poked at my genitals. Everyone was looking – the men [Religious Department officials], as well as the women. They took photos of my naked body.”
Erina, a transgender woman who was imprisoned on an assault charge and held in the men’s ward at Sungai Buloh prison from 1998 to 2000, said she was forced to have sex without condoms with the warden “about two times a week,” and with male prisoners. “I complained to the high officers, [and] the sergeant, but they did not take action,” she said.
"Jina," a 22-year-old transgender woman, sports a tattoo of a butterfly—a transgender symbol signifying transformation: "There's a lot of politicization of the LGBT community at the moment, to distract the public from more important issues."
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchTransgender people in Malaysia also face discrimination and abuse from other state officials and agents, including public sector health workers, teachers, and local government administrators. When she sought treatment for a fever at a government hospital, “the nurse didn’t want to touch me,” said Sharan, a transgender woman in Kuala Lumpur. “I felt as if I have a disease – if you touch me, are you going to become transgender as well?”
Another transgender, Chunhua, said police had publicly humiliated her during a urine test in Oct 2013 in Kuantan. “I was arrested by the police once [and forced] to do a urine test. They were stopping people randomly. "The police were a bit rough. They asked me to show my sexual parts - in a parking lot, in front of other people. “I was dressed in women’s clothing. For other men, they asked them to pee behind trees, but for me, they wanted to see the penis." They said, ‘Oh, quite big!’,” she recounted, describing the experience as "humiliating" and also accusing them of molesting her.
malaysiakini.comThose who were born in the 1950s remember a time when Malaysia was more progressive and less discriminatory, but it all changed in the 1980s
“Several transgender people born in the 1950s and 1960s told HRW that they remembered a more progressive, less discriminatory Malaysia." The tolerant situation changed beginning in the 1980’s, the report said, as Islam became increasingly politicised and laws and edicts regulating the human body, sexuality, and gender were introduced.
malaysiakini.comWhile sex reassignment surgery was once available in Malaysia, a rise in conservative Islamic influences led the National Fatwa Council in 1982 to issue a fatwa banning such surgery. Although the council’s fatwas do not have legal authority, Malaysian doctors have stopped performing the procedure.
As Malaysia steadily shift towards Islamic conservatism, every state in the nation has criminalised transgender people
In a 2000 interview with TIME Asia, Abdul Kadir Che Kob, then head of Malaysia's Islamic Affairs Department, described homosexuality as a
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchIt said Malaysia, where Islamic authorities banned sex change surgery in 1982, was among only a handful of countries including Nigeria and Kuwait that criminalize transgender people.
reuters.com
Muslims, who according to government statistics make up about 60 percent of Malaysia’s population, are subject to state-level Sharia (Islamic law) ordinances, in addition to the federal criminal law. Since the 1980s, every state has passed Sharia criminal enactments that institutionalize discrimination against transgender people. All 13 Malaysian states prohibit Muslim men from “dressing as women,” while three states also criminalize “women posing as men.” The laws, enforced by state Islamic Religious Departments, do not define what constitutes transgender dressing or posing.
"There is like a sweep... The religious department officers check transgender people whether they are Muslim or not through their ICs, and if they are, they get detained. "We don't see that done in such an orchestrated way by the governments of other countries," said HRW's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights division's advocacy director Boris Dittrich today.
malaysiakini.comCompared with other Muslims countries, the state-organised arrests and political hate speech make Malaysia one of the worst countries for transgender people
A 2011 article describes the murder of a transgender woman in George Town, the capital of the state of Penang.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchReplying to a question later, Dittrich said Malaysia was one of the worst countries for transgender individuals, if compared with other Muslim countries. "Almost everyday, the transgender people run the risk of getting arrested," he told a press conference held at Concorde Hotel.
malaysiakini.com"Malaysia is actually one of the worst countries to be a transgender because of the laws, the state-organised arrests and the hate speech by politicians," said Boris Dittric, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights programme.
gmanetwork.com
"Raids by the police and Islamic Religious Department officers take place happen continuously. "We don't see that done, in such an orchestrated way, by the governments of other countries," he said.
malaysiakini.comSeveral transgender women have filed a ground-breaking court case arguing that their arrest under Shariah law contradicts with the federal constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression and equality
Transgender models prepare to walk down the runway at a beauty pageant.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchThe state’s Religious Department has used this law repeatedly to arrest transgender women – most recently, in a mass arrest of 16 transgender women at a wedding party on the night of June 8, 2014. Three transgender women have asked the court to strike down the law, which says that “any male person who in any public place wears a woman’s attire or poses as a woman” is violating the law.
Several transgender women have filed a ground-breaking court case challenging Islamic law, or sharia, in the state of Negeri Sembilan, arguing that it contravenes the federal constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression and equality. The court is expected to deliver its verdict in early November.
gmanetwork.com
"Transgender people in Malaysia risk arrest every day they step out of their door simply because of the way they express themselves. The authorities shouldn’t be harassing and punishing people just for being who they are," says Human Rights Watch
"Aina," a 40-year-old homeless transgender woman, was arrested by police twice in one week in December 2013. They turned her over to the Islamic Religious Department, which charged her with wearing women's clothing, as indicated in this charge sheet.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights Watch“Transgender people in Malaysia risk arrest every day they step out of their door simply because of the way they express themselves,” said Boris Dittrich, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities shouldn’t be harassing and punishing people just for being who they are.”
“Malaysia urgently needs to scrap laws that discriminate against transgender people, adhere to international rights standards, and put in place comprehensive non-discrimination legislation that protects them,” Dittrich said. “It is high time that the authorities recognized that transgender people have the same rights as all Malaysians.”
Boris Dittrich from Human Rights Watch stresses that not all transgenders were sex workers, a lot of them hold regular jobs
Sulastri, a 52-year-old transgender activist, says she enjoys her freedom and does not allow gender stereotypes to dictate her life.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchDittrich then said it was important that the people get more exposed on the plight of the transgender individuals in the country. “We should get people to be familiar with personalised stories of transgender people.”
malaysiakini.comHe also dispelled the notion that most transgenders were sex workers. “A lot of those (transgenders) we interviewed have regular jobs, although it was hard for them to get jobs in the first place,” he said.
malaysiakini.comHuman Rights Watch called on Prime Minister Najib to repeal discriminatory laws and retract a statement he made in 2012 saying that it was necessary to fight LGBTs
Regina, an artist in her 50's, depicts life as a transwoman through art.
Image via © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights WatchIt urged the government to repeal discriminatory laws and replace it with measures that are in accordance to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
malaysiakini.comThe report called on Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has cast himself globally as a voice of moderation, to retract a statement media said he made in 2012 that it was necessary to fight the three "-isms" of pluralism, liberalism and LGBTs.
gmanetwork.com
Repeal all laws and regulations that discriminate against transgender people. Call on all state religious departments to end arrests of transgender women for cross dressing. Approve comprehensive non-discrimination legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression.