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Jakim invites transgenders to join 'recovery programme'
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10, 2014:
The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has urged transgender Muslims to join a “recovery” programme the department has been running.
The programme, according to its director general Datuk Othman Mustapha, has been conducted since 2010, targeting those who “were confused about their gender”.
Claiming that more than a thousand transgenders had been rehabilitated, Othman, in a statement, explained that the programme helped with reinforcing confidence and the individual’s spirituality.
He also pointed out that the department had never forced anyone to join the programme. Instead it had gone down to the ground or promoted it through Facebook.
Othman claimed that the department has seen a direct and indirect effect on the target audience, including greater awareness of HIV, the reduction of stigma and the strengthening of their career.
“In fact, after following our programme, they continue the spiritual programme on their own initiative, with the help of the state Islamic Religious Departments.”
Othman added that those who had participated before had left behind their “deviant activities” and assisted Jakim with promoting the programme among their friends.
He, however, noted that 15 to 20 transgenders had avoided joining in the programme.
This small group was part of organisations that he claimed were established to foster and promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and had wanted to obtain recognition and acceptance by society.
The Court of Appeal last week ruled that Section 66 of the Syariah Criminal (Negeri Sembilan) Enactment 1992, which criminalises any man who dresses or poses as a woman, was unconstitutional.
In the landmark decision, the court recognised that transgenders suffered from gender dysphoria, where they dressed and posed as women, and added that the syariah enactment was inconsistent with several provisions contained in the Federal Constitution.
The judgment came after three Muslim transgenders — Muhamad Juzaili Mohamad Khamis, 26, Syukor Jani, 28, and Wan Fairol Wan Ismail, 30 — appealed to the Court of Appeal after the Seremban High Court dismissed their judicial review application to challenge the constitutionality of the syariah enactment.