Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
News

YOURSAY 'They are God's children, too. They never asked to be born this way.'

 

Harrowing report on transgenders’ custodial abuse

Mushiro: Prime Minister Najib Razak has to speak up. Malaysia's treatment of fellow human beings is becoming worse.

 

We are on the United States’ list on human trafficking , our treatment of foreign labourers and maids is inhumane, underage prostitution is rampant and now this horrible treatment of transgenders.

 

It looks like the authorities and government agencies in Malaysia are made up of sadists who enjoy their violent treatment of these fellow citizens.

 

Jaded: It is sad when we have reached such a deplorable state of humanity. Yes, the trangenders are different but that does not give the police or the authorities the right to humiliate and chastise them.

 

Tholu: In the name of religion, the authorities organise raids to "cleanse" society from vices. However, it is also personnel from these authorities who commit vices upon the people whom they claim to 'cleanse'.

 

And we have employees in the public sector to whom soft skills (such as politeness and diplomacy and humane qualities such as sensitivity and understanding when dealing with the public, including people of abnormal physical and mental and emotional problems) is a foreign 'disease'.

 

Flamescanner: It is interesting (distressing actually) that the religious bigots who are purportedly upholding the dignity of the nation and following God's laws by going after the transgenders, are the ones who molest, rape and humiliate them.

 

These are the men and women from the Religious Department and the police? Good Lord. How will our leadership respond to this?

 

These are fellow human beings, fellow citizens of ours. Do we not have compassion?

 

Appum: This is the really ugly side of the so-called religious types. Islam may not approve of LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community), but does it condone raping and humiliation of these people? I find it hard to believe so.

 

Martha: Why harass them? They are God's children, too. They never asked to be born this way. Give them some compassion.

Louis: I believe in God. Those transgenders do not choose to be born as such. They did not have a choice. And the parents of those transgenders do not wish that their children are born as such. So whose fault is it that they are born transgender?

 

Would it be the parents? I would not agree. As I believe, God is the giver and taker of life, and as such it is God's will that they be born transgender. Condemning them is like condemning God's will.

 

Anonymous #19098644: When you abuse, humiliate and torture one of the children of God, you are committing a grave sin and wrong.

 

Worse is that it is being committed in the name of religion. The religious authorities ought to be arrested and charged for abuse of power.

 

Boonpou: I lived in Kuching, Sarawak for several years from 1994 to 2000, and got to meet and know several transgenders.

 

Of course, I am fully aware then that many of them went through severe discrimination, rape, and humiliation before they eventually 'climbed' into their profession as hair stylists or beauticians and were highly sought after for weddings or film productions.

 

These were a group of transgenders who had 'made it' on their own amidst all forms of discrimination.

 

I can still recall vividly that these transgenders whom I met and became friends were probably the only group of females I knew who would refuse the free drinks at pubs offered by men, especially by the community of expatriates in Kuching.

 

They would say, and here I am paraphrasing, "Thanks but I can afford to buy my own drinks." How cool was that? They obviously knew better. I still have very fond memories of our acquaintances. They are, after all, human beings.

 

Tembikai: It is all about power. The religious personnel feel that being representatives of religious organisations make them more superior.

 

This false sense of superiority allows them to dominate and ridicule others on the pretext that they know better and could do anything to the lesser mortals.

 

They just cannot see that being a representative of God is actually a burden. They should be role models and not be one who is criticised and hated.

 

Vijay47: Our knee-jerk reaction to this Human Rights Watch report would be to heap further condemnation on the police and other enforcement agencies, not that such abuse would be particularly surprising.

 

But the sadder truth is that society as a whole, almost every strata of it, is bent on ill-treating and discriminating against these poor unfortunate individuals whose only crime and sin seems to be that they were born different.

 

We view them as some disowned roadside animals against which ridicule, insult, or even assault should be the order of the day, disdainful of the fact that there is a mind and a soul within that human being we are so quick to mistreat.

 

If we cannot be kind to them, let us at least not be cruel.

 


 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.

ADS