"Because it makes people believe in the lie that it is possible to

pretend to be something you're not. Just so that you can, you

know, have a day in heaven or whatever"

CONVERSION THERAPY PRACTICES IN



Malaysia

COUNTRY SNAPSHOT
Contents

3
About this Snapshot

4
Executive Summary

6
Conversion Therapy Practices (CTPs) in Malaysia

15
Summarised Analysis of Findings

16
Recommendations
 About This
Snapshot
The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), This snapshot features a summary of key findings

together with its country partners, embarked on an of the research and offers a preliminary reflection

ambitious yet much-needed research project earlier on the driving factors and actors behind conversion

this year to study the various forms of conversion therapy practices in each of the four countries. It also

therapy practices being implemented against trans presents recommendations for relevant legal, policy

and gender diverse people in India, Indonesia, and programmatic change to address conversion

Malaysia and Sri Lanka. At the outset, this evidence therapy practices and provide protection to trans

-generating project aimed to explore how, through and gender diverse individuals against these harmful

the documentation of their personal narratives and interventions. A more detailed analysis of our research

lived experiences, trans and gender diverse people findings is presented in the regional report.

in these countries have been subjected to conversion

therapy practices. Further, it sought to investigate how This snapshot aims to inform the discussions taking

the existing national legal, policy, and programmatic place at the national stakeholder meetings being held

frameworks create an enabling environment for these between December 2020 and January 2021 in each of the

harmful practices to thrive. The study also aimed four countries. We expect additional recommendations

to explore how religion and socio-cultural values and insights to come forward from these meetings and

fuel or promote interventions aimed at changing they will be incorporated in the regional report, due

an individual's gender identity and expression, or to be released in the second quarter of 2021.

sexual orientation, and how these interventions

manifest in familial or communal spaces. The evidence

presented in this research initiative is informed by

data and insights collected through key informant

interviews with members of trans communities, health

professionals, legal and policy experts, academic

and religious scholars, and LGBTIQ human rights

defenders. Details of the research methodologies are

available in the regional report.

3
 Executive
Summary
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia of Conversion therapy practices (CTPs) refer to any

approximately 32.7 million people. Of these, 1

sustained effort intended to “modify a person’s

61% are Muslim.2 Malaysia is politically and sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender

socially conservative, with 77% of the population expression”.8 According to the International

viewing religion as “very important”3, and the Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, CTP

particular brand of Islam being described as, inter can include talking therapy, ritual or religious

alia, supremacist and puritanical. To illustrate,4

cleansing, behavioural conditioning, such as being

women removing hijabs attract social stigma and asked to dress or walk in a certain way, and/or

social media attacks5, Islamic leaders encourage beating or other forms of “corrective” violence.9

arrests of transgender (trans) women6, and political All these forms of CTPs are prevalent in Malaysia.

leaders openly denounce LGBTI people.7 The media,

with the exception of a couple of local English- CTPs in Malaysia are perpetrated by parents,

language outlets, is overwhelmingly homophobic school systems, religious institutions, and the

and transphobic, fuelling the idea that LGBTI people state, which disguise CTPs as religious education

require cure. programmes (such as the Mukhayyam programme)

or programmes for hijrah diri (self-pilgrimage).10

1 Demographic Statistics, Malaysia, First Quarter 2020,” Department of Statistics, accessed September 17, 2020, https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.
php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=430&bul_id=aFYzVjJ3anNyQytHZGxzcUZxTG9Ydz09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09.

2 R Hirschmann, “Perceived and Actual Share of Muslim Population in Malaysia 2018,” Statista, December 12, 2019, https://www.statista.
com/statistics/953765/malaysia-perceived-and-actual-share-of-muslim-population/.

3 “The Age Gap in Religion Around the World,” Pew Research Center, June 13, 2018, https://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/13/how-religious-
commitment-varies-by-country-among-people-of-all-ages/.

4 Riaz Hassan, Inside Muslim Minds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2008), 49-54 and 286-287.

5 Jia Vern Tham, “3 Malaysian Women Reveal What It’s Like to Remove the Hijab,” SAYS, May 7, 2019, https://says.com/my/news/the-ft-
mufti-says-dehijabing-is-a-choice-here-s-what-former-hijabis-have-to-say-about-it.

6 “Malaysia: Minister’s Order to take action against the Transgender Community must be revoked,” ICJ, July 15, 2020, https://www.icj.org/
malaysia-ministers-order-to-take-action-against-the-transgender-community-must-be-revoked/.

7 Bernama, “We are Free to Reject LGBT, other Unsuitable Western Influences – Dr Mahathir,” New Straits Times, June 18, 2019, https://
www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/06/497206/we-are-free-reject-lgbt-other-unsuitable-western-influences-dr-mahathir.
8 Lucas Ramon Mendos, Curbing Deception: A World Survey on Legal Regulation of So-Called “Conversion Therapies”, (Geneva: ILGA World,
2020), 17.

9 Josina Bothe, It’s Torture, Not Therapy: a Global Overview of Conversion Therapy: Practices, Perpetrators, and the Role of States, (Internationa
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims: Copenhagen, 2020), https://irct.org/uploads/media/IRCT_research_on_conversion_therapy.
pdf.
10 Hijrah Diri – Homoseksualiti (e-book) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app_hijrahhaqq.layout&hl=en_
GB&gl=US&showAllReviews=true.
4
8 (62%)
stated that a parent or parental figure had
tried to change their sexual orientation or
gender identity

4 (31%)
mentioned that they had been subjected
to conversion therapy either by religious
authorities or institutions.

7 (54%)
trans people mentioned being
subjected to conversion therapy
from multiple sources

The practices of these programmes include showing

trans women videos about death and dying (to

strike the fear of God in them) and forcing them

to participate in strenuous physical activity in the

hope that it will make them more “masculine”.

There are also a number of private Islamic healing

clinics which “treat” LGBTI people through the

recitation of Quranic verses and the spraying of

black pepper seeds over their eyes, purportedly to

expel Satan from them.11

For this report, we interviewed thirteen trans

people (six trans men and seven trans women) and

eight key informants, which included activists, a

psychologist, lawyers, and progressive Islamic

scholars. Of the thirteen trans people interviewed,

eight (62%) stated that a parent or parental figure

(for instance, a foster parent) had tried to change

their sexual orientation or gender identity, whereas

four (31%) mentioned that they had been subjected

to CTPs either by religious authorities or a religious

institution. Seven (54%) trans people mentioned

being subjected to CTPs by multiple sources.

11 Jia Vern Tham, “Here's How Malaysia ‘Cures’ LGBTs With

Conversion Therapy,” SAYS, December 20, 2018, https://says.com/
my/news/here-s-how-malaysia-cures-lgbts-with-conversion-
therapy.
5
 Responses from the interviewees for this report make

it clear that parents and/or family members are the

most frequent perpetrators of CTPs in Malaysia. The

Conversion Therapy
CTPs adopted by parents and/or family members
Practices (CTPs) in
included “corrective” beating and behavioural

conditioning, such as being asked to wear an attire

traditionally associated with the sex assigned to them

at birth. Some of our respondents also reported how

parents and the Mukhayyam programme subjected

trans women to strenuous physical activity and sports,

under the pretext that these would make them more

conventionally masculine.

“I was beaten and stabbed in

my face, near my eyes, with
scissors, and I was beaten
to an inch of my life because
Malaysia

my brother’s intention was

to kill me, [ just] because he
had a sibling that was a trans
woman.”12

“During Raya (Eid) I was

forced to wear baju kurung
(traditional Malay attire worn
by females). On the first day
you can change (clothes) but
then if you go out visiting then
you need to wear that baju
(kurung) the entire day. Even
now mum doesn’t allow [me to
wear male clothing].”13

12 Interview with one of the respondents.

13 Interview with one of the respondents.

6
 “[At] the start of the repair the house or plumbing;
(Mukhayyam) programme, I he would force me to do that
gave it the benefit of the doubt work and he even forced me
and was optimistic, because in school to take up sports
I wanted to learn Islamic which I didn’t like, football
studies. But when I was going and hockey, [and if I didn’t
through the programme, I do that] every day I would
felt rather shocked because get beaten up when he came
we were given instructions back home after drinking.
to do certain tasks so we So to avoid that, I had to play
wouldn’t be able to wear sports.”15
our female clothes. We
were forced to climb hills, CTPs in Malaysia are enabled by an environment of

criminalisation, widespread social conservatism,

through the jungle, and we
transphobic media and political leaders, official
were abandoned at certain
government documents, and pseudo-academic
‘checkpoints’ supposedly so articles published in unaccredited journals. Trans
that we would become a man people are subject to arrests, fines, and judicial

with a tough soul. We were corporal punishment under a number of sharia

asked to play football, and provisions that cover both sexual orientation and

follow tough sports.”14 gender identity. For example, as the law treats

trans men as women, and because it criminalises

homosexuality as well, they may be charged for

“[At] a very young age, I was
engaging in musahaqah (sexual activity between
forced to do work, work that women), attracting fines of up to RM 5,000
were men’s jobs. At [the] (USD$1,200), imprisonment of up to three years,
very young age of 10, I had to or judicial corporal punishment of up to six strokes

follow [my dad]. I was forced of a cane, or a combination of the three.16 Trans

to pull the grass rolling women are subject to arrests and/or fines under

machine to cut the grass, state sharia laws that criminalise “a man (who

wears) a woman’s attire or poses as a woman for

I had to climb up trees to
immoral purposes.”17
trim the trees… I even had to

14 Interview with one of the respondents.

15 Interview with one of the respondents.

16 Enakmen Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Takzir) (Terengganu) 2001 (Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment
(Terengganu)), s30, http://www2.esyariah.gov.my/esyariah/mal/portalv1/enakmen/State_Enact_Ori.
nsf/100ae747c72508e748256faa00188094/089a6047d6694e25482570dd000ce51d?OpenDocument.

17 Ibid, s33; Enakmen Kesalahan Jenayah Syariah (Takzir) (Selangor) 2001 (Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment
(Selangor)), s30, http://www2.esyariah.gov.my/esyariah/mal/portalv1/enakmen2011/Eng_enactment_Ori_lib.
nsf/8e791863d5e2682548256faa00184cce/3ffa86163fb77e904825760b0005ce09?OpenDocument.
7
Perpetrators
Religious Institutions (mosques,
temples, churches)

Governmental Islmaic
authorities

School principles, teachers

Islamic healing clinics

Mental health professionals

such as psychiatrists,
psychologists, and counsellors

Parents

Siblings and other

family members
In addition to the active promotion18 of CTPs— had been taken to stop any social media activity that

including the state-funded Mukhayyam programme— promotes “deviant behaviour of LGBT people and the

by the state, the media fuels the idea that trans culture of pornography.”23

people are deviant by using transphobic terms such as

“pondan” (effeminate man)19 and stating that LGBTI In July 2020, the Minister in charge of religious affairs

people are “damaging to communities”. 20

stated that he had given JAWI, the Federal Territories

Islamic Religious Department, “full licence to carry

“There is a place for compassion and for understanding, out its enforcement actions” against trans people, and

and also, I think it’s important for people in the media asserted that these would include arrests and religious

to understand the impact that they have on not just education so that they would “return to the right

individual people but also society and how society path”.24 In July 2020, the Mufti of the Pulau Pinang

perceives [trans people]. I think that a lot of media stated that LGBTI people “brought deviant culture to

[outlets] need to understand the role and power that the country” and were “a type of threat to religious

they have on this. The problem is that some media in values”, and declared that “this deviant behaviour

this country are more than happy to spread the idea that can be prevented not just via legal measures, but also

conversion therapy is okay, [and] that trans people are via effective nurturing and teaching”.25

wrong. And I think that it’s done on purpose, to forward

an agenda, maybe because Islam has been politicised in CTPs and transphobia are also fuelled by academia, with

this country.”21 up to 119 academic articles published in unscientific,

questionable, and/or unaccredited journals. These

The transphobic messages being broadcast by the include one claiming that law is the “mechanism of

media are further bolstered by transphobic statements obliteration and control” of LGBTI people,26 which

by political and religious leaders, which include was published in a domestic social and behavioural

statements by two-time Prime Minister Mahathir science journal helmed by an individual with a PhD

Mohamad that claim that Malaysia is free to reject in Construction Project Management.27 Another such

LGBTI people.22 In Parliamentary Hansard, as recently academic article surveyed counsellors in Malaysia

as 3 August 2020, the MP of Bachok (a district in and stated that homosexuality was a result of a lack

the northeast of Malaysia), asked the Minister of of love.28

Communications and Multimedia to show what efforts

18 Petah Wazzan Iskandar and Mohd Nasaruddin Parzi, “Program Mukhayyam Pulih Golongan LGBT,” Berita Harian, July 23, 2015, https://www.
bharian.com.my/bhplus-old/2015/07/69741/program-mukhayyam-pulih-golongan-lgbt.
19 Nadia Shaiful Bahari, “Dulu pondan, tapi bila meninggal dunia jenazah diusung anak tahfiz (Once a trans woman, but when she died her body was
carried by the son of a person who memorised the Quran),” mStar, July 10, 2018, https://www.mstar.com.my/lokal/semasa/2018/07/10/kematian-
pondan-yang-ditangisi.

20 Petah Wazzan Iskandar and Mohd Nasaruddin Parzi, “Program Mukhayyam Pulih Golongan LGBT.”

21 Interview with a respondent, a trans man, 33

22 Bernama, “We are Free to Reject LGBT, other Unsuitable Western Influences – Dr Mahathir”

23 Parliament of Malaysia, Penyata Rasmi Parlimen Dewan Rakyat – Parlimen Keempat Belas Penggal Ketiga Mesyuarat, Kedua, Official Hansard
Parliamentary House of Representatives – Fourteenth Session, Third Term, Second Meeting, August 3, 2020, https://www.parlimen.gov.my/carian.
html?str=LGBT&uweb=web&submit=CARI.

24 “Malaysia: Minister’s Order to take action against the Transgender Community must be Revoked,” ICJ.

25 Mahani Ishak, “Cegah LGBT dengan Undang-Undang, Tarbiah,” Berita Harian, July 12, 2020,
https://www.bharian.com.my/berita/nasional/2020/07/709994/cegah-lgbt-dengan-undang-undang-tarbiah.

26 Mohd Izzat Amsyar Mohd Arif, et al., “Misconduct of LGBT in the Malaysian Law: Law as the Mechanism of Obliteration and Control,” Journal of
Advanced Research in Social and Behavioural Science 13, no.1 (2018): 19-34.

27 See http://www.akademiabaru.com/arsbs_editorialboard.html.
28 Siti Hajar Jamal, et al., “Counselors Experiences in Handling the Counseling Session on the Gay and Lesbian Clients: Factors Causing the Occurrence
9
This was published in a journal with only four also does not have the resources or independent

issues, with a Chief Editor and Managing Editor authority to adequately investigate complaints and

who do not seem to have digital footprints.29 penalise those who perpetrate CTPs. According to

our research, a key reason perpetrators of CTPs

As a result of this hostile environment against seem to have impunity in the country is the lack

LGBTI people, trans people have very little recourse of regulation and/or accountability processes

for harms experienced as a result of CTPs. Trans around CTPs in medical settings. In contrast, a

people and trans allies are not able to express number of major global medical professional bodies

their views on CTPs without fear, and in fact, face and associations have made statements against

reprisals from the government for doing so. In CTPs. The Independent Forensic Expert Group, for

August 2020, Nicole Fong, an activist who shed instance, has declared that “conversion therapy is

light upon the Mukhayyam programme’s CTPs, was inconsistent with the fundamental ethical principles

doxxed by hundreds and hundreds of conservative and professional duties of health professionals…

Muslims on Twitter and harassed by government it is clear that conversion therapy is a form of

authorities.30 cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment when it is

conducted forcibly on individuals or without their

“[You can’t] talk [about] conversion therapy without consent and may amount to torture”.32

fear, I don’t think so. For the time being, you can talk

to certain non-government organisations. But if Similarly, the American Medical Association has

you post your opinion on conversion therapy on the stated that conversion therapy and “efforts to”

[social] media, I’m afraid that the society in general convert someone’s sexual or gender identity

would not accept it and post negative comments on “represent a significant risk of harm”.33 The Royal

their opinion, and not only that, it would incite the College of General Practitioners has asserted that

religious authorities to come up with new laws.” 31

“being LGBT is not a disease, it is not a mental

illness and it doesn’t need a ‘cure’.”34 The American

There is little redress available through human Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

rights or medical professional bodies. The Human states that such “conversion therapies” (or other

Rights Commission of Malaysia, or Suruhanjaya interventions imposed with the intent of promoting

Hak Asasi Manusia Malaysia (SUHAKAM), which is a particular sexual orientation and/or gender as

the national government agency for human rights, a preferred outcome) lack scientific credibility

has produced research on trans people, but would and clinical utility. Additionally, there is evidence

not comment on CTPs for this report. SUHAKAM that such interventions are harmful. As a result,

of Gay and Lesbian Behaviour,” Journal of Qualitative Social Sciences 1, no. 1 (2019): 1-11.

29 See http://asianscholarsnetwork.org/journals/index.php/jqss/issue/view/5.

30 Matthew Bugher, “Malaysia: End Harassment of Critic of Government’s Stance on LGBTQ+ Issues,” Article 19, August 6, 2020, https://
www.article19.org/resources/malaysia-end-harassment-of-critic-of-governments-stance-on-lgbtq-issues/.

31 Interview with Nicole Fong, human rights activist.

32 Independent Forensic Expert Group, “Statement on Conversion Therapy,” Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 72, no. 101930 (2020),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2020.101930.

33 American Psychiatric Association, ‘APA Reiterates Strong Opposition to Conversion Therapy’ (15 November 2018) https://www.psychiatry.
org/newsroom/news-releases/apa-reiterates-strong-opposition-to-conversion-therapy.
34 Royal College of General Practitioners, “College Condemns ‘Conversion Therapy’ for LGBT Patients,” Royal College of General Practitioners,
July 3, 2018, https://www.rcgp.org.uk/about-us/news/2018/july/college-condemns-conversion-therapy-for-lgbt-patients.aspx.
10
What fuels
conversion
therapy?
Transphobic statements by
political and religious leaders

Ministry of Education guidelines on

corporal punishment for LGBT children

Sharia laws criminalising

'cross-dressing' and same
sex sexual conduct
Widespread social
conservatism
Transphobic
media reporting
State funded
conversion therapy

Lack of condemnation by
medical professional bodies

Laws criminalising sex work

conversion therapies should not be part of any covering any person who threatens another to do

behavioural health treatment of children and an act which he is not legally bound to do, such

adolescents.35 as conversion therapy. In addition, if a person is

undergoing conversion therapy against their will, it is

Redress may, however, be available through legal already a crime. A person has their liberty in Malaysia

actions. Interviews conducted with lawyers for and any law depriving that is unconstitutional."37

this report indicated that recourse is available

through the Federal Constitution, the Penal Code, A number of government documents endorse and

and potentially through the Child Act. New Sin Yew, fuel conversion therapy. The Ministry of Health in

advocate and solicitor at Bon Advocates, spoke about 2017 released the Guideline on the Management of

how harm suffered by a child through CTPs could Problems related to Gender and Health in Health

be dealt with under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Clinics38 which medicalises trans people and their

Act 2001 which involves the ill-treatment, neglect, identities as occurring due to gender dysphoria,

abandonment, or exposure of children: and describes that teens with ‘gender issues’ in

particular may have ‘symptoms’ such as having

"Whatever the motivations or objectives behind conflicts with their families, having been raped,

subjecting a transgender child to conversion therapy or exhibiting aggressive behaviour.39 The report

may be, as long as it can be proven medically and recommends that teens with ‘gender issues’

scientifically that such conversion therapy would cause be subject to physical examinations, including

“substantial and observable impairment of the child’s examination of genitalia, recording of sexual

mental or emotional functioning”, any person who history, and investigatory tests which may include

perpetrates or causes or exposes the transgender child chromosomal abnormality tests and MRIs to observe

to the perpetration of conversion therapy would be the condition of the pituitary gland.40 The guideline

guilty of an offence under Section 31(1)(a)."36 also recommends that teens that are ‘struggling

with gender issues could benefit from the services

Michelle Yesudas, Senior Legal Advisor for an of school counsellors, mental health specialists,

international NGO, described how the Federal and/or religious leaders’.41 This report is endorsed

Constitution could be used by victims who are in its opening pages by Director-General of the

subject to CTPs against their will: Ministry of Health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, who

states that the Guideline is the Ministry of Health’s

"Article 5 of the Constitution on liberty of the person ‘early step towards helping health professionals to

applies, as well as various provisions of the Penal identify and manage problems of gender confusion

Code, including Section 503 on criminal intimidation, at all age levels’.42

35 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “The AACAP Policy on ‘Conversion Therapies’,’’ American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, February 2018, https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2018/Conversion_Therapy.aspx.
36 Interview with New Sin Yew, Advocate and Solicitor, Bon Advocates.

37 Interview with Michelle Yesudas, Senior Legal Advisor.

38 Ministry of Health, “Garispanduan Pengendalian Masalah Kesihatan Gender di Klinik Kesihatan,” 2017, https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/314228943_GARISPANDUAN_PENGENDALIAN_MASALAH_KESIHATAN_GENDER_DI_KLINIK_KESIHATAN.

39 Ibid, 23.

40 Ibid, 24-25.

41 Ibid, 27.

42 Ibid, iii.
12
The Ministry of Education also endorses the punctuated with numerous hadith, setting the tone for

perpetration of conversion therapy via corporal the manual. One such hadith describes the case of a

punishment in schools. Via a 2003 circular letter to male person ‘resembling a woman’ being brought by

Directors of Education for each state, which to our a disciple before the Prophet, with a request than the

knowledge has not been rescinded or updated, the transgender person be exiled to a different district,

Ministry states that ‘caning is part of the educational or murdered. The hadith describes the Prophet’s

process’, and recommends different types of caning response: “Verily, I am prohibited from killing people

based on the severity of the offence.43 Annex B of who pray.”48 This response does not, therefore, seem

the circular letter details ‘severe offences’ such as to preclude killing of transgender people who don’t

committing sex outside marriage, sodomy, unnatural pray, nor does it preclude exile as a punishment for

relations (offence 16) and participating in sex work, being trans. Quoted later in the manual is a hadith

becoming a bohsia (juvenile female participating in from Riwayat al-Bukhari, where the Prophet surmises:

immoral activities, usually with men), bohjan (juvenile “There is no disease that Allah has created without

male participating in immoral activities, usually with having also created its cure.”49

females), or pondan (effeminate male) (categorised as

offence 17).44 The circular recommends that students On Page 179 of the Manual are suggested activities

found to have committed these severe offences be for a Mukhayyam camp – and this includes jungle

caned on the clothed buttocks using a light cane with walks, navigating hanging bridges and dark

a maximum of 3 strokes of the cane.45 caves, and may include rafting or kayaking, and

it recommends that these activities occur for four

Last but not least is the 2013 Manual on Trans Women hours on a Thursday.50 On the Friday morning, it

and Islam(Manual)46 by the Department for Islamic recommends the showing of a film about death. On

Development (JAKIM) which sets out the protocols and each day of a recommended course, trans people

procedures for the Mukhayyam government-funded wake up in the early hours of the day and sleep

conversion program. The manual sets out, inter alia, at 11:00 pm.51

that per a national fatwa, gender affirmation surgery is

haram, or forbidden. The manual uses the Arabic word The Manual is rife with internal inconsistencies,

mukhannas (effeminate men) to refer to trans women, juxtaposing language that endorses violence, ‘cure’

stating: “Male mukhannas are described as those who and/or exile of transgender people, with language that

have soft and seductive voices, like women.”47 It is also supports the development of a ‘loving community’

through ‘volunteerism led by religious leaders’.52

43 Office of the Director-General of the Ministry of Education, “Surat
It further recommends istighfar (the act of asking
Pekeliling Ikhtisas Bil 7/2003: Kuasa Guru Merotan Murid (Professional
Circular Letter 7/2003: the Authority of Teachers to Cane Students),” forgiveness from God) as a method of berubat
October 29, 2003, Reference KP(BS) 8591/Jld.XVIII (7), https://www.
moe.gov.my/pekeliling/1970-surat-pekeliling-ikhtisas-bilangan-7- (treatment or cure) to keep Satan away, to bring peace,
tahun-2003-kuasa-guru-merotan-murid/file.
and to avoid bencana moral (moral disasters).53 The
44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Department of Islamic Development 48 Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Department of Islamic Development
Malaysia), “Manual Islam & Mak Nyah (Manual on Islam and Malaysia (note 6) 31.
Transgender Women)”, 2013, http://www.islam.gov.my/images/
49 Ibid, 51; Sahih al-Bukhari 5678, https://sunnah.com/bukhari/76.
ePenerbitan/Manual_Islam_dan_Mak_Nyah-2.pdf.
50 Ibid, 179.
47 JAKIM (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia – Department of Islamic
51 Ibid.
Development Malaysia), Manual Islam & Mak Nyah (Manual on Islam
and Transgender Women) (2013), http://www.islam.gov.my/images/ 52 Ibid, 158.

ePenerbitan/Manual_Islam_dan_Mak_Nyah-2.pdf. 53 Ibid, 82.

13
Manual recommends that the ‘family institution’ "When you read the hadith, you
should control the behaviour of children that tend
need to understand the context
towards softness, and that educational institutions
and the background of the
identify and monitor students that have ‘soft
hadith. In the classical term
personalities’.54 The manual further dubs these

students as ‘softies’.55 The Manual uses stigmatising

we call it “sabab al wurud”,
and judgmental language, but at the same time that is, the historical fact
recommends that religious officers ‘build trust behind that. And in the Quran
and close relationships with trans clients and local and the hadith, they talk about
communities’.56
“mukhannas”. For example,
there are two hadiths, [one]
Academics and progressive religious scholars have
from Aishah, the wife of the
asked for a re-examination of how transgender

people are seen and how they are subject to

Prophet and [one] from Ummu
conversion therapy. Barmania and AlJunid in their Salamah, another wife of the
2017 study on transgender women in Malaysia Prophet, which mention about
state that ‘the spectrum of religious views shows (sic) mukhannas. Mukhannas
that there is a window of debate that could be is an “effeminate man”
explored further’,57 and that an ‘independent
according to those [hadiths],
scholastic review of Islamic jurisprudence on
and according to Imam An-
transgender women in Malaysia seen through
Nawawi, in his book Syarah
a prism of compassion, mercy and health.’58 Dr

Afiq M Noor, an independent researcher with a

Sahih Muslim and Ibn Hajar
PhD in Islamic Studies and Gender, and who is al-Asqalani in Fatah Al Bari,
trained in classical Islamic texts, described how they divided mukhannas into
hadith used to persecute transgender women two categories. The first one
had been misinterpreted, and that those who are
is “min ashli al khilqah”, or
‘transgender by nature’ shouldn’t be subject to
they occur naturally like that.
conversion therapy:
And the second one is a little
“bi al takkaluf”, sort of like
a poser. And according to An
Nawawi. if you are within the
first category, you are born like
that. You can live your life
54 Ibid, 161.

55 Ibid. normally and there’s no sin

56 Ibid, 171.

57 Sima Barmania and Syed Mohamed Aljunid, “Transgender women

for you."59
in Malaysia, in the context of HIV and Islam: a qualitative study
of stakeholders’ perceptions,” BMC International Health and
Human Rights 17, no. 30 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-
017-0138-y. 59 Interview with Dr Afiq M Noor, Independent Researcher, PhD in
58 Ibid. Islamic Studies and Gender.
14
 Summarised
Analysis of
Findings
Based on the testimony of trans respondents and Evident also from the testimonies of trans people

key informants, it is clear that CTPs are widespread and key informants was the severe harm inflicted

in Malaysia and that they are fuelled by, inter on individuals who had been subjected to CTPs,

alia, transphobia and inaccurate information whether through state-sponsored programmes,

propagated by the press and political figures, laws “corrective” beatings by family members, or

that criminalise trans people, and religious beliefs repeated verbal abuse by parents. Also evident

that are rooted in the view that a trans person was that there was little redress for trans people—

is being deviant. A number of key informants, SUHAKAM was perceived to neither have the

consistent with recommendations in the BMC resources nor the independent authority to run

International Health and Human Rights,60 believed proper investigations on complaints of CTPs.

that there was a way to engage in a review of In addition, none of the medical professional

Islamic jurisprudence to introduce an approach associations, unlike their major counterparts across

to trans people based in compassion, but that the globe, have made statements condemning CTPs,

this change would take decades before it shows giving mental health professionals, in particular,

concrete results. free rein to impose CTPs upon trans people. Almost

all respondents spoke of the need for the media

It is also apparent that schools and other to present more accurate information and to take

educational institutions reinforce transphobic more responsibility in terms of the harms resulting

beliefs through the threat of punishment and by from CTPs. In other words, respondents felt that

funding and encouraging anti-LGBTI research. the media should present a viewpoint that is more

There has been a proliferation of anti-science compassionate of trans people in general.

journal articles published through unaccredited

local journals that inflict and encourage harm

towards trans people. This is described in greater

detail in our larger report.

60 Sima Barmania and Syed Mohamed Aljunid, “Transgender Women

in Malaysia, in the Context of HIV and Islam: A Qualitative Study
of Stakeholders’ Perceptions.”

15
 The following recommendations are formulated not

only from the insights of trans people and other key

informants but also from recent recommendations

compiled from accredited academic journals. Potential

duty holders are specified in parentheses.

1. A full investigation of harms resulting from CTPs

Recommendations in the Malaysian context, and the establishment

of a database of the CTPs faced by trans people

[SUHAKAM, academic institutions, think tanks]

2. An independent scholastic review of Islamic

jurisprudence on trans people in Malaysia

[Progressive Islamic scholars, NGOs, and academics]

3. Media articles grounded in evidence and compassion,

highlighting how CTPs harms trans people and

communities [All media outlets]

4. Statements from medical and psychiatric professional

bodies against CTPs, as a matter of urgency, stating

that conversion therapy is harmful and practitioners

are violating medical ethics [Malaysian Medical

Association, Malaysian Medical Council, Malaysian

Psychiatric Association]

5. A commitment to rigorous scientific standards

and a clear denouncement of studies promoting

CTPs [Academia, Deans and other administration

of universities]

6. More funding (including funding of advocacy and

emergency response) for community programmes to

enable them to better support at-risk trans people

[Donors, philanthropic organisations]

7. Pressure from key diplomatic missions and

international organisations on the Malaysian

government to ban CTPs [Diplomatic missions,

international organisations]

8. Ban on corporal punishment for LGBTI children;

release of a circular banning CTPs in schools.

[Ministry of Education]
16
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19
Production Team:

Author: Dr. Fifa Rahman

Country Research Implementing Partners: SEED Malaysia The Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) is a

regional trans-led network that is working towards the

Project Coordination: Samreen, Human Rights and Advocacy Officer, Asia Pacific
advancement of trans rights in the Asia Pacific region
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Byrne, for developing the research questions and tools and leading the regional
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International, for their valuable insights as the regional peer reviewers of this justice and human rights, and to exchange information and

research initiative; and to all those members of trans communities in Malaysia strategies with each other.

who contributed to this research initiative by sharing their stories.

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