Tanjung Bungah assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu said the move to stop him from tabling a motion on a Transgender Committee in Penang was a "test" of the state's sincerity in supporting minority rights.

He said forcing him to remove the motion intended for tabling at May 19  state legislative assembly sitting, showed how far the state government is sincere in practising democracy or allowing minority voices to be heard.

Teh ( right ) added that the state assemblymen and MPs who asked him to withdraw the motion did not only do it for lack of knowledge about the Transgender issue.

"They rejected the motion out of political interest and the need to retain power," he told Malaysiakini .

"They shot me down even before they allowed me to present the motion and debate the matter in the state assembly, at least let us have a chance to debate the issue," Teh, lamented.

They have said that they are for democracy and human rights, so this is a test, and you can see the result for yourself, ‘let the whole world be the judge’, he added.

Noble notion stillborn

The private motion was for Teh to also seek a RM200,000 fund from the state to run activities to eventually set-up a Transgender Institution, similar to that in India and Indonesia.

Although frustrated, he somewhat knew he would be asked to withdraw the motion, saying, "It is normal, understood, expected and forecast."

Teh said he felt sad that those who asked him to withdraw the motion were "confused" between issues of LGBT and transgender rights.

"They were talking about sexual rights between persons of same sex but I am talking about gender identity and gender rights, about discrimination against a minority group and how we can address these issues," he added.

They kept on asking him if he agreed to LGBT rights, when he was talking about human rights for the transgender community, he said.

He said he was alone in the battle but failure to win his Pakatan Rakyat comrades’s support will not deter him from pushing for the establishment of a Transgender Institute.

"I will propose the motion again and again and again until my term is up or until they get fed-up and allow me to do it," he quipped.

The’s proposal was rejected by Pakatan assemblymen and MPs - at a meeting in Komtar at 2pm yesterday, according to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The DAP secretary-general said Teh failed to get a seconder for his proposal and thus had to withdraw it.

"This issue is hotly being used by the BN media to criticise the DAP stand although this motion is the private view of a DAP assemblyman," Lim said.

"Unfortunately, my statement that this is Teh's private stand is not being published in the BN media," he complained, adding that he will also ask him to be a team player and withdraw his private motion.

Once he does so, the issue is deemed settled and that he has accepted the state leadership and DAP reps’ unanimous decision, Lim said.

NGO wants rep hauled up for backing transgenders