PN MP claims M'sia’s 'bad' ranking on transgender rights 'worth it'

PN MP claims M'sia’s 'bad' ranking on transgender rights 'worth it'


PARLIAMENT | A Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmaker has claimed that Malaysia’s ranking as the second worst country in the world regarding transgender rights is “worth it”.

Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PN-Pasir Mas) was referring to a Global Trans Right Index released recently, where Malaysia scored -105 and the highest danger rating of F with the comment that trans persons face obstacles in the country and are targeted by the police.

“Yes, maybe from certain aspects, we are uncomfortable with this report.

“But when we are faced with values set by the Federal Constitution, I think it’s actually ‘worth it’, although we have to deal with such a bad index,” Fadhli (above) said when debating the National Human Rights Commission’s (Suhakam) 2020 annual report today.

Based on an index put together by researcher couple Asher and Lyric Fergusson, only Guyana fares worse than Malaysia, while Saudi Arabia, Malawi and the UAE round off the bottom five.

Guyana was ranked as the worst country for the community because there are high numbers of murders of trans persons.

The best five countries in the world for the transgender community were listed as Malta, Portugal, Canada, Sweden and Bolivia.

Malaysia's Asean neighbours generally did much better, with Thailand ranking 66, Singapore 109, Indonesia 115 and Brunei 192.

Earlier in his speech, Fadhli, who is also PAS Youth chief, lauded the Home Ministry’s move in confiscating Swatch’s rainbow-coloured watches last month, which he alleged to “have elements of normalisation towards LGBT”.

Chow Yu Hui (Harapan-Raub) was quick to interject by questioning Fadhli what were the “LGBT elements” he meant.

“Is the rainbow an LGBT element?” Chow asked.

Chow Yu Hui


In response to Chow, the Islamist party leader said he was merely speaking based on what was stated in media reports.

“I also read media reports that the minister had said that there were ‘LGBT letters’ on the watches, but there were also denials from the watch manufacturer,” he said.

On hearing this, Chow did not give Fadhli the chance to explain further and said, “Swatch has denied that there are ‘LGBT elements’, and ‘LGBT letters’, so what sort of media reports did you read?”

In his defence, Fadhli clarified that he had only read media reports on the matter and did not partake in the raid at Swatch outlets in the country.

“What is important is to call on the Home Ministry to continue working in accordance with the existing laws and I congratulate the ministry for its assertiveness.”

The watches were previously seized from Swatch stores on May 13 and 14, allegedly for violating the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

Amid criticism centred on the Swatch store raids, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said it was not about the colours but the issue of LGBT.

“Let the Home Ministry clarify (the raids) because I do not have the details except the fact that it’s not the issue of the (watches’) colours but the issue that LGBT (components) were put (on the watches),” Anwar told reporters on May 25.

On May 27, Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek said there were no references to the LGBT community on the watch dials that were confiscated by the Malaysian authorities.

However, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, on May 29, said the letters “LGBT” were clearly found on the dials of the Swatch watches that were confiscated by his ministry earlier this month.

On May 30, the Swiss watchmaker clarified that Malaysian authorities not only seized watches bearing the letters "LGBT" but also confiscated watches from its 2023 Pride collection that did not carry the term.