The Mak Nyahs: Malaysian Male to Female Transsexuals

The Mak Nyahs: Malaysian Male to Female Transsexuals gives a profound insight into the world of transsexuals—the history and definition of mak nyahs, what it means to be a mak nyah in Malaysia, transsexuals in other countries, and the views of relevant parties regarding transsexuals in Malaysia, among others. Through numerous studies, interviews with relevant parties and accounts from the mak nyahs themselves, this book provides intriguing and enlightening facts and accounts, which help to broaden one’s perspective of this community that forms part of the diversity of the human landscape. Transsexuality has always been a feature of human civilisations throughout the world. It is not unique to any particular era, race or country. However, it is not recognised as part of society in many countries. This is because human beings still divide themselves according to the binary gender system, that is either a male or a female, according to the sex a person is born into. Anybody who considers himself or herself outside this binary system is said to have deviated from the norms of the society. Another major reason is that some religions, like Islam and Christianity, do not recognise transsexuality.

In Malaysia, the medical profession and the academic community basically accept the definition of transsexuals as well as the definitions of other sexual orientations, for example, lesbians, homosexuals and bisexuals, as developed by Western scholars. This is due to the fact that many medical professionals and academic members were educated in the West and they have been exposed to various definitions. As for the term ‘transsexual, it is the preferred term by the transsexual community in Malaysia, as opposed to terms like transvestites and transgenderists, as the ultimate goal or wish of the majority of them is sex reassignment surgery. In Malaysia, mak nyahs are labelled as sexual deviants and society generally shuns them. It has been estimated by Pink Triangle, an NGO in Malaysia which gives HIV/AIDS awareness information to mak nyahs, that there are about 10,000 in the country. About 70 percent to 80 percent of them are Malays and the rest are Chinese, Indians and other minority ethnic groups. According to the Department of Statistics, Malays make up 50.7 percent of the total population whereas the Chinese, the Indians and other minority ethnic groups make up 27.5 percent, 7.8 percent and 14 percent respectively. Since the majority of the mak nyahs are Malays who are Muslims, they are said to have violated the tenets of Islam, the official religion.

The mak nyahs wanted society to accept them as they were and not discriminate against them, especially in employment. They did not want to be forced into the sex trade and be looked down upon by society. They point to the irony that society shuns them as sex workers, but at the same time, was not willing to help them by giving them proper jobs. One of the mak nyahs said, “Who wants to be labelled a pondan (a Malaysian slang word for effeminate men) if they can help it.” Another said that even if they were caught by the police, they would still go back to cross-dressing after they had been released because they felt they were females. They also went to great lengths to be females by taking hormones regularly, having operations to change their body shapes—and yet were not put off from leading the life they wanted