I'm sure we‘ve all heard about the recent news regarding Malaysian cosmetics entrepreneur, Nur Sajat who has pleaded not guilty to cross-dressing as a woman at a religious event three years ago of which a police report was lodged against her.
A video of her arrest following the police report was uploaded on the internet on January 6th. The video depicted Sajat clearly in distress while under the detainment of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS), which has since gone viral.
Controversies aside, no such treatment should be endured by anyone, trans or not. The LGBTQ community struggles to be accepted in our country and Sajat's case is sadly not the first recorded anti-transgender hate crime in Malaysia. Some may not agree, or even comfortable with the way the trans community choose to live their lives but do differences in identities warrant such abuse?
At the end of the day, we all have a choice to make: to discriminate, or to simply be kind?
