Today’s decision was made on a suit filed in 2016 by which she sought a declaration to be legally recognised as a male and to compel the national registration department to amend her gender on her MyKad.

The Federal Court held that the case was not fit and proper to be heard as the matter has already been tried in an application for a judicial review and the subsequent civil suit.

The suit came after she was denied a judicial review in 2013 of the department’s decision to reject her application for the sex change to be recognised. On appeal to the Federal Court, she was told to seek remedy by a civil action.

The woman had previously testified that she underwent gender reassignment surgery in Thailand some time in 2011.

She subsequently consulted four local doctors, all of whom provided medical reports to support her application for a change in gender. However, the registration department refused to do so.

In submissions to the Federal Court today, her lawyer Chong Joo Tian contended that she had the right to be recognised as a male after her surgeries.

He argued that the principle of res judicata, which prevents the same dispute from being re-litigated once a final judgment is made, did not apply to her case.

However, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, appearing for the government, said her civil action and judicial review application were based “on the same facts”.

He contended she cannot bring the same facts again in the civil action.

On the bench were Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli, and Justices Hasnah Hashim and Abu Bakar Jais.