Deconstructing Pride and LGBTQ+ Activism in Malaysia
By Nicole Fong Let's talk about what Pride means here in Malaysia. What does contextualising Pride in a Malaysian context look like here? It means acknowledging that Pride existed in other queer liberation movements around the world long before the Stonewall riots. It means looking back in herstory and highlighting the community leaders, artists, and activists who played a role in shaping the Malaysian queer liberation movement to what we have today. It means celebrating ourselves for existing in a system and environment that wants to silence and punish us. It means listening to and uplifting our trans folks who are the most persecuted and face the most violence. It means standing in solidarity with our trans folks who have paved the way for us and fighting for decriminalisation. It means telling our stories of heartbreak and anger as well as our stories of courage and success to reclaim our own narrative under a system that erases our voices. It means moving forward with a sense of possibility that any individual has the capability and potential to radically transform the world. It means reimagining a future that we want to work towards where we are ALL liberated.
By Nicole Fong
Let's talk about what Pride means here in Malaysia. What does contextualising Pride in a Malaysian context look like here?
It means acknowledging that Pride existed in other queer liberation movements around the world long before the Stonewall riots.
It means looking back in herstory and highlighting the community leaders, artists, and activists who played a role in shaping the Malaysian queer liberation movement to what we have today. It means celebrating ourselves for existing in a system and environment that wants to silence and punish us.
It means listening to and uplifting our trans folks who are the most persecuted and face the most violence. It means standing in solidarity with our trans folks who have paved the way for us and fighting for decriminalisation.
It means telling our stories of heartbreak and anger as well as our stories of courage and success to reclaim our own narrative under a system that erases our voices.
It means moving forward with a sense of possibility that any individual has the capability and potential to radically transform the world. It means reimagining a future that we want to work towards where we are ALL liberated.
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WHAT DOES PRIDE
MEAN IN MALAYSIA?
What we have achieved so far & the
future of queer liberation according to
LGBTQ activists
Pang Khee Teik
Editor / Activist / Writer
Queer Lapis
Sulastri Ariffin
Trans Women Organiser
SEED Foundation
@nicolefws
1980
Pride was an unfamiliar term for the Malaysian trans
community back then. However, they had already been
organising through socials and beauty pageants,
unknowingly organising their very own Pride events as a
form of connection and celebration.
When Sulastri first started her organising back in the 80s, trans
women were frequently getting arrested in towns and cities all over
Malaysia because they didn't know about their rights. She singlehandedly
took buses all around Malaysia to meet and speak to the
trans women about their rights and how to organise to support each
other, effectively uniting trans women together.
Sulastri: "I feel that the community needs
to be empowered, not just about HIV but
also their rights. Most of the trans
community don’t know about their rights
and they are quite naive about it. But when
we explain to them, they become more
understanding. As you can see now across
Malaysia, you can see there are some
leaders who are very empowered right
now. And that is my objective of doing all
these kinds of events. And this is why we
need to do more of our organising, so when
they go back to their own communities,
they can do the same for their community."
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
2008
Seksualiti Merdeka started out as an arts festival by a group
of writers, activists, and artists who wanted a space for
queer people to share their stories. Back then, they were
already aware of the implications of calling it Pride and the
risk it would bring for attendees.
Pang first experienced the power of storytelling when he was first
invited to share his story about coming out as a queer person in
Malaysia at an open mic. This is where he realised that we had no
spaces to share our stories and that we needed to create those
spaces ourselves.
Pang: "We would have never been able to do this if we never
believed we had the right to do what we do. That we have the right
to these spaces. That we have a right to tell our stories. And the
belief in that right requires some amount of pride in our stories."
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
Self acceptance is essential to Pride.
Without it, there is no Pride. And this
include our ability to name the range
of emotions we face. Because our
inability to name our experiences
normalises our experiences of
discrimination, violence and
oppression. And that being tolerated
is what we accept as the norm.
Without the lack of affirming services
especially in an environment of
criminalisation, stigma and
discrimination, then we end up being
trapped in a cycle of oppression.
Where our trauma is prolonged. Our
pain is prolonged. Our harm is
prolonged. Everything is amplified
and prolonged.
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
How do we break the cycle of oppression and
move forward as a collective?
It requires reimagining our future where we
are including stories of the unheard. Where
we can live free from discriminatory laws and
participate in formal democracy.
Pang: "We need to be intentional in creating
spaces for our stories and the full range of
humanity and all our emotions. It means forcing
ourselves ask who's stories are missing and how
do we create a better, more inclusive space?
How can we co-create that space together so
that we can tell the stories on our own terms?
This is the beginning of democracy because we
are creating a model of how we want to be as a
community."
Sulastri: "When we talk about democracy, for
me and the trans community, we don’t have
that. Because first we have laws against the
trans community that restricts us from moving
around freely and to live with dignity. Which
makes it difficult to even fight for equal rights
and to organise as a collective. Pride and
democracy are two sets of different things for
me because of the many obstacles that exist for
us."
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
What is the way forward
for LGBTQ+ activism?
1
Empower trans community about their rights
and how they laws affect them through
SOGIE* training & workshops.
2
Work towards decriminalisation of the
federal (criminal) and state Syariah laws so
that we can all live free from discrimination,
harassment, and oppression.
3
Create spaces to tell our stories not just of
success but of heartbreak, sadness, anger.
Use our voices and power of storytelling to
shape the future we want to work towards.
*SOGIE stands for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Expression
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
WHAT CAN I DO NEXT?
DONATE
Pelangi Campaign (tinyurl.com/pelangicampaign)
Seed Foundation (tinyurl.com/seed-foundation)
Gay Straight Alliance Kota Kinabalu (tinyurl.com/gsakk)
READ
Justice For Sisters (tinyurl.com/jfsisters)
Human Rights Watch report on trans women
(tinyurl.com/hrwtrans)
Syariah Law Case FAQ (tinyurl.com/syariahfaq)
11 men Case FAQ (tinyurl.com/11menfaq)
How the laws affect you (tinyurl.com/lgbtlawsfaq)
Queer stories & resources @queerlapis
TELL YOUR STORIES
tinyurl.com/lgbtstory
GET INVOLVED
tinyurl.com/getinvolvedlgbt
@queerlapis
@nicolefws
I believe in a people’s history.
For our history to be filled with
queer stories. We are all change
makers. We all have a role to
play in changing history.
Whether we are talking to
another person or telling a story.
So that when we think about our
place and role in history, we do
not just think of history as just a
chain of events, but defined by
people leading it and changing
it.
- Pang Khee Teik
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