Khartini Slamah said: “Sajat worked hard. There are many Mak Nyahs who have also succeeded but whose successes have not been highlighted. They are portrayed negatively by the media. I think that is unfair.”

She was speaking to reporters after the launch of the Status of Women’s Human Rights: 24 Years of CEDAW in Malaysia, held at the KL and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall today. CEDAW stands for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination against Women.

Khartini cited the example of many trans-people said to be involved in prostitution, but the question that was not asked was why this was the case.

“It is because when Mak Nyahs ask for work, it is hard to get work. They always ask about your sexual identity and then say no and deny you job opportunities.

“In the first place, many trans-people are well educated, but they don’t get job opportunities. So that is a problem,” she said.

Khartini said the issue was not about Sajat coming out and admitting to be a trans-person, but rather that being open about her identity could harm her.

“There are times people don’t understand. There are those who are naive when it comes to issues regarding transgenders. This is why Sajat gets a lot of negative press from outsiders.

“For us in the trans-community, we look at Sajat as a Mak Nyah who is successful in business. How others look at her, it is up to them.

“People don’t know Sajat. As a trans-person, it is not easy to climb the corporate ladder. Many are trying to bring her down. I am proud of her,” she said.

On whether Sajat’s success story would help change the perception towards the transgender community, Khartini said knowing and understanding transgenders would take time.

“It is not easy for us to come out openly. Whether trans-people want to come out or not, that is their individual right. Many say Mak Nyahs do not want to accept who they really are. Actually they know about themselves.

“Like me. I am comfortable with myself. I feel that I can contribute and be a better person. Whether the community accepts or not is up to them.

“It is not easy. People will look down on us, even when we are successful,” she said.

Khartini had earlier related her experience about coming to Peninsular Malaysia from Sarawak at the age of 19.

“When I was working at a restaurant in Johor Bahru, I had an encounter with the police who used vulgar words and threatened to arrest me for cross dressing.

“I was beaten up and raped by the policeman who arrested me. I did not know what to do. I kept on asking myself, what did I do wrong?

“It took me years to overcome the trauma and it still hurts when I think about it,” she said, adding that she did not take action because she was worried and scared if they would accept her police report.

Khartini was born in 1963 into a family of seven siblings, and as a child, she dreamed of being an air stewardess, to meet people and travel all over the world.

She had taken the decision to move to Peninsular Malaysia as back then job opportunities were limited, more so for trans-women.

“By moving out of my home, I could also at least help to ease a bit of the burden on my family, who were constantly being subjected to people in my neighbourhood talking about me,” she said.

When she moved to KL in the 1990s, Khartini began her activism, with outreach to drug users, transgender women and cisgender (a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth) and women sex workers.

In spite of her age and activism, Khartini said she is not spared from discrimination. She cited how she was recently hospitalised due to a heart problem, and was placed in the ward with cisgender men who watched her every move.

“The nurses who attended to my case were initially complaining and saying that I was admitted to the wrong ward. But then when they looked at my file, they smiled cynically. I thought to myself, ‘they must have read about my gender’.

“I felt bad, humiliated and a mix of emotions, but what could I do?” she said.

However, the following day, a female doctor who was looking into Khartini’s case decided to transfer her to the women’s ward, which led to her feeling happy and relieved. She said it helped her recover faster.

Khartini said she had seen her own friends becoming victims of hate crimes and murder.

“But discrimination can be changed and must be changed. I hope that the younger generation of activists will not give up hope just because things are not changing the way they want,” she added.