Recently, we have had prominent politicians speaking on the urgent need for informative sex education; for teaching safe sex practices in one's family; for a dialogue on homosexual and transgender issues and for work to be done on pro-choice issues.

Being a teenaged girl in Malaysia the 1990s was for me a time of great confusion towards sex and my sexuality. And when I started having sex, there was confusion on my sexual rights.

Having sex was bad; so we have to suppress the feelings of being physically attracted to someone. Having short hair and loving sports meant I liked girls; so I kept my hair long. Saying yes and wanting sex meant I was a bad person. When I started having sex, I then had to deal with the politics of protection.

It was a period of intense internal turmoil centering on me wanting to express my sexuality but being bombarded with messages denouncing my morality. It was a constant battle of trying to get information besides emotional and physical support. Not to mention the exhausting hours spent on self-reflection.

I do hope that our country's future implementation of policies, education system and laws will all have one important thread, that is not to view sex and sexuality strictly in terms of morality but from the broader perspective of human rights.

Instead of harping about what is unnatural and what is immoral, maybe it's time for us to work towards providing unbiased information and building a truly caring, non-judgmental society. There is a disturbing lack of reliable and neutral material for young people on sexuality and sexual rights and this, in my view, is a human rights violation.

It is important, too, that Malaysians are provided with non-judgmental portrayals of people who are termed 'different' just because they are not heterosexuals. This doesn't mean non- heterosexuals are not human.

The rights of homosexuals, transgenders and transsexuals are shamelessly violated by our laws and society everyday just because they are not "normal" and we chose to close one eye. This is not how a caring and just society should be.