Sexual assaults by religious officers and prison guards, daily fears of arrest and discrimination by healthcare professionals.

 

These are among the plights of transgenders in Malaysia, as recorded by international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a 73-page report titled ‘ I’m scared to be a woman ’ released today.

 

Through interviews with 66 people, including transgenders, lawyers, activists and healthcare professionals, HRW also noted that the oppression against transgenders in Malaysia is a recent trend.

 

“Several transgender people born in the 1950s and 1960s told HRW that they remembered a more progressive, less discriminatory Malaysia.

 

“Today’s transgender activists aim to remind Malaysians of their more tolerant past, and to ensure that transgender Malaysians are not stripped of their fundamental rights protected under Malaysia’s constitution and international human rights law, because of their gender identity or expression,” the report said.

 

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.

 

HRW's interviews, including with a criminologist and representatives from the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), were carried out last January.

 

Most of the transgender persons mentioned in the report use pseudonyms.

 

HRW said it had also attempted to seek comments from the Ministry of Health and the Prisons Department, but to no avail.

 

Molested by religious dept officers

 

In the report, one transgender woman identified only as Victoria accused Negeri Sembilan religious authorities of sexually assaulting her during a 2011 raid in Seremban.

 

“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 as well as the women. They took photos of my naked body,” she said.

 

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.

 

Several interviewees have also alleged extortion for money or sexual favours in exchange for not being arrested by police or religious officers.

 

Rape by prison warden

 

In 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.

 

“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.

 

“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.

 

The report added that the authorities tended to turn a blind eye when transgender persons lodge reports of crimes against them, or resort to victim-blaming.

 

Transgender persons face discrimination in the private sphere as well, the report said, including in clinics, at home, at work, as well as at schools even at primary level.

 

The 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.

 

Avoid medical care for fear

 

It 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.

 

The 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.

 

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.”

 

At schools and at universities, transgender persons reported bullying, sexual harassment and rape by fellow students and teachers.

 

“I quit school at age 11 because people around me were always bullying me. I was stressed. I felt like I was going to explode,” a transgender woman Azlene reportedly said.

'Najib must speak up'

 

The report included a list of over 40 recommendations for 19 different bodies, including multinational corporations, and the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

 

The remaining 17 targets are various government branches, agencies, officials and statutory bodies.

 

It 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).

HRW also called on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to disavow his July 2012 speech urging Malaysians to fight lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs), and to instead call on the people to practice tolerance and non-discrimination with gender and sexual minorities.

 

The PM should also condemn statements from politicians and religious leaders who incite violence or discrimination against LGBTs, the NGO said.

Malaysiakini has contacted the Prisons Department as well as the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Affairs Department and is awaiting their response.

Malaysia one of worst places for transgenders