Nur Sajat is no stranger to Malaysian news. The online personality caused an uproar after rising to fame as a beautiful transgender woman. However, not everyone in Malaysian society could accept her for being transgender.
Following up from earlier this year when she went missing and was claimed to have escaped to Thailand, she has now safely found refuge Down Under. Through a recent interview with international news portal, BBC News, Sajat opened up about her experience as a transgender woman in Malaysia.
Earlier in January, she was arrested for violating Islam by wearing women’s clothes in a private religious ceremony in Malaysia. She was seen donning the Baju Kurung and a hijab, a headgear often worn by Muslim females to cover their aurat. Not only that, she was also accused of violating the religion by performing Umrah in female clothes.
She expressed her disappointment by stating how, despite the cooperation she gave, she was roughened up, beaten up and handcuffed by the authorities – and she thinks that her offense could easily have been talked through without involving violence. Sajat, 36, has also mentioned how she has the right to love and practice her religion in her own way.
She has stated how she “respected (her) religion by doing (her) pilgrimage and holding a thanksgiving ceremony. However, (she) is unable to do it in the way they (society) wants.” She also stated that she did not ask to be born that way, as a transwoman, “nobody asks to be born a transwoman.”
She also explained her theory on why she was a target in Malaysia, saying, “Transwomen have always been oppressed in society. However, since the existence of social media, and I have risen to fame because of my career and appearance, it makes them (society) think that I can be their target.”
In tears, she mentioned how she misses her children more than anything else, and she has been distraught as a mother who is unable to see or contact her children. Despite that, she has made the final decision of not returning to Malaysia ever again, “I don’t think I’ll ever go back to my home country because I don’t think I could ever live peacefully in Malaysia. And I feel like when I’m here (Australia), I feel more liberated and free to be who I am (transwoman).”
Most netizens are glad that she has finally decided to move from Malaysia, but for two different reasons; one party thinks she’s a nuisance, while the other is happy she doesn’t have to face hate crimes anymore.
Source: BBC News.
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