LGBT people do not feel they are in a “New Malaysia’” since the change of government in May, in the wake of Islamic Affairs Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s comments on the community’s rights.

“As a member of the (LGBT) community myself, I don’t see any new Malaysia yet. You cannot change Malaysia in 100 days, it will take years” said trans activist Nisha Ayub.

“We want the government to actually engage with us and have a two-way conversation,” she said.

Pakatan Harapan have made much of the idea of a “Malaysia Baru”, claiming the new government is seeking to promote openness, diversity and equality.

However, LGBT people have not seen any change in the government and Malaysians’ treatment of them to suggest a more accepting or tolerant society.

Earlier this week, Mujahid said while LGBT rights must be respected and the community must not be discriminated against, the government should not be considered to be their friend.

BN MPs had questioned him on the issue, following the resignation of Numan Affifi from an interim position in Sports and Youth Minister Syed Saddiq’s office due to backlash over his history of LGBT activism.

Numan said in his resignation letter that he was going abroad to think about his next steps, after receiving homophobic abuse.

LGBT people have long been a marginalised group in Malaysia, with the penal code banning “unnatural sex” and the shariah court outlawing cross-dressing.

Opposition to what Mujahid termed the “LGBT lifestyle” is still strong, with one Kelantan PAS leader suggesting that it was a far more pressing concern for Malaysia than the recent issue of child marriage.

Nisha herself has fallen victim to these laws, being arrested in 2000 for cross-dressing and then imprisoned in a male prison.

More recently nine transgender women were arrested  in 2015 at a wedding under the same cross-dressing law.

Nisha said: Since the parliamentary question this week, so many trans people have come to me saying they’ve been told to cut their hair or change their clothes at work.

“The government has not created any platform for an open discussion with the LGBT community.”

Nisha said she had held hope that PH would press forward in improving the legal status and quality of life of LGBT people, but the government had not had a dialogue with them since it was elected.

She is not alone in feeling aggrieved at Mujahid’s statements on LGBT rights.

Dina, an LGBT person in Kuala Lumpur, said she was concerned by his use of the word “lifestyle” to refer to LGBT Malaysians
 
“To me, it sounds like he is ignoring the fact that LGBT people are citizens too, and that he’s saying we’re something separate and have  a different culture”, she said.

She said she struggled to live in a country where she feels her mere existence is considered ‘un-Islamic’ and unacceptable.

She said that as a Muslim woman and with Malaysian culture being the way it is, it is difficult for her to “come out”. Some of her family members still do not know about her sexuality.

Dina said many other LGBT Malaysians shared the same difficulties.

Nisha said she still held some hope that the new administration would make changes to help the LGBT community.

“While Mujahid said he wasn’t a friend of the LGBT community, he did say we had to be respected as citizens. That gives me hope.”

It is sad that simply being respected as a citizen is seen to be a step forward, but it is a step forward, nonetheless, which could be indicative of PH possibly softening its stance in the future. 

For now, the spark of hope provided by that recognition is all that LGBT activists have to go on as they push for their own “Malaysia Baru”. – August 2, 2018.