HEALTH and welfare organisation Pertubuhan Kebajikan dan Kesihatan Umum Malaysia (PKKUM) today called on the government to change its approach to LGBT issues and offer transgender people its support.

“Our community of transgender people is deeply concerned with how LGBT issues are being addressed,” it said in a statement today.

PKKUM said the government needed to do more to acknowledge specific trans issues.

“We would like to emphasise that LGBT is an umbrella term,” the group said, adding that using the umbrella term instead of addressing each specific group tended to dilute the effectiveness of any message.

Last month, debate arose in the Dewan Rakyat over the LGBT issue after the minister in charge of Islamic affairs, Mujahid Yusof, was grilled by opposition Barisan Nasional MPs.

PKKUM also called for the government to provide greater support for trans people and set up channels for them to seek help.

“In Malaysia, there are no professional bodies to deal with gender dysphoria/gender identity cases,” PKKUM said.

It also called on leaders and the public to stop treating gender dysphoria as a mental illness.

“Being transgender is no longer recognised as a mental illness. Unfortunately, this approach still serves as the basis of the criminalisation of transgender people,” the statement read.

The World Health Organisation recently removed gender dysphoria from its list of mental illnesses.

However in Malaysia, transgender people can be charged under the law, such as shariah law for cross-dressing.

PKKUM said the lack of available medical avenues for those considering hormone replacement therapy (HRT) also needed to be addressed.

“As long as those (HRT) facilities don’t exist, members of our community will continue using hormone treatments that negatively affects their health.”

The group said issues concerning the transgender community should come under the Health Ministry.

It also said that there was a growing need to support transgender people in the workplace, echoing Mujahid remarks during the parliamentary session that “the group cannot be oppressed at their workplace or be victimised”. – August 8, 2018.