Monday, December 28, 2009

Ten Reasons Why Motorcycles Should Be Banned In Malaysia.

1) Some motorcyclists think they are driving cars and end up taking the middle of the lane instead of the side. They become instant contributors among major causes of the infamous traffic congestion in Malaysia!

2) Certain motorcyclists still think they own cars and love to park their little vehicle on the car parking area itself, especially around places with high car volume. And there already is not enough parking around KL!

3) The only time some of them do realize they are not driving cars, is when they weave in and out of every minutest space available between cars at ridiculous speed, and is dangerous to other people too!

4) The motorcycle remains the easiest motor vehicle to steal. Think of all the time policemen can save to work on real crimes, and also save insurance people trouble. Motorcyclists can even save for bus and beer.

5) People do not service motorbikes anymore do they? For a small machine, it is amazing they can emit smoke enough to rival the worst of Rapid KL busses. They are a major cause of pollution in the city!

6) It is great for Malaysian economy! More cars will be sold, more people pump petrol, toll plazas will get money from more cars instead of letting motorbike people through for free! For current car owners, erm...

7) All OPS SIKAP will definitely see a huge drop in road fatalities during festive seasons. We know by fact most these deaths are overwhelmingly motorcyclists. Why still let them on those potential killer toys?

8) We always complain about snatch thieves, why not take away the major equipment from the criminal’s modus operandi? Instead of asking ladies to stop flaunting handbags, how about halting motorcycling?

9) Mat Rempits will finally lose their star vehicle! They can only Rempit with a broom in their room all they want if motorbikes are banned. Hurrah! No more bike gangsters! The menace will be gone for good!

10) They are small and fast for goodness sake! Motorbikes should be banned for the owners own bloody safety. We care for them, but their majority do not even care about themselves. Away with motorbikes!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Transgender People And The New Straits Times Factor.

There was this disgusting editorial opinion on the NST today, with the writer presumably being either the Group Managing Editor Zainul Arifin Mohammed Isa, and/or Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, who is the Group Editor. This letter was published on the same newspaper that a two-page special on transgender people was featured. The letter offered ridiculous suggestions that probably confirm New Straits Times as a confused third world newspaper with little authority.

EDITORIAL: Sex and the Fatine factor
2009/12/20

BUT for a few sexily-dressed individuals who flaunt their dubious assets in certain streets of the city to earn a precarious living, by and large these controversial members of our society keep very much to themselves.

Until someone like Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari, or Fatine Young as he calls himself now following his same-sex marriage to a doting Briton after they were issued a certificate to marry by the British Home Office, comes along and triggers the nation into a polemic over the issue of transgender. It may not have been Fazdil's wish to be in the limelight but for the very fact that he is a transsexual and that another arm of the British government, the UK Border Agency, is not allowing him to stay in the country because immigration procedures were not followed. Fazdil is now awaiting deportation pending his third application to remain in Britain.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman has declared that Fazdil has "brought shame on the country" by his same-sex marriage and for overstaying in Britain. "The penalties may be more severe than the two-year passport issuance deferment as she (he) has brought great shame to us," declared Rahman. Several non-governmental organisations and concerned individuals have rallied around "Fatine". While society in Britain and the laws of that country, and the West, generally, may accept Fazdil, whose predicament has been described as a "woman trapped in a man's body" and who has yet to go under the surgeon's knife to make him a female, it is not the case in Malaysia.

The laws and regulations of the land are quite clear where issues of transsexuality, homosexuality and cross-dressing are concerned and it has seen the authorities -- police, religious and others -- acting decisively against them. Homosexuality and other "unorthodox" sexual practices are frowned upon by the Quran and Bible. Islam recognises four genders -- males, females, khunsa (males who are hermaphrodites) and mukhannis (effeminate males). While a khunsa may undergo a sex-change operation and be reclassified as female and accepted, the mukhanni is forbidden to change his sex, and cannot enlarge his breasts with hormones, cross dress or enhance his "female" looks with make-up.

While we can sympathise with their predicament, there are no two ways about interpreting the law of the land. Until and unless Parliament and the religious authorities see it fit to decide otherwise, Malaysians in the "grey sexual areas" have to abide by the laws and keep their sexuality to themselves.


If it is not annoying enough that either writer continuously called a transsexual Fatine, by male pronouns, they even called transsexuals “controversial members of our society”. This is a blatant act of discrimination, by attempting to segregate and stigmatize transsexuals. If that is not enough, the writer placed “scare quotes” around Fatine’s name.

Not contented of being a bigot, either writer then suggested by both religion and the “law of the land” to keep (our) sexuality to ourselves. Now this is where complete idiocy of either writer strikes me. Firstly, the law of the land does not criminalize homosexuality as per se, but “carnal intercourse against nature”. Penal Section Code 377, also applies fully to heterosexuals; sadly only people in same sex relationships are persecuted using it. This is called heterosexism and bias. But Sodomy, is also a heterosexual activity.

Secondly, there is no law against transsexuality, and transsexuality is a medical condition; it has its own researches and medical professionals, and recognized by the World Health Association. To outlaw people on the basis of a medical condition is stupid, if not mentally unsound in today’s age. I wonder just how can either of them miss that.

Thirdly, the talk of religion is already out. Homosexuality, as oversimplified as a form of lust in the Abrahamic Holy Books, is not even related to the homosexuality as per known today. The word defining “homosexual” does not even appear in the Quran, and “homosexual” in the Bible has been placed into it by political meddling, reinterpretation only since 1949. To argue religion is to misuse it especially when other religious laws are not observed.

Homosexuality is a word to signify attraction, as with heterosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality. To scrutinize homosexual oral sex and ignore heterosexual oral sex is plain selective discrimination, influenced by the wave of heteronormality Malaysia is being bombarded with. No one complains of Britney Spears’ sex-with-2-guys-song, did we?

For either editor to lay claim that we should closet our sexuality is the show of their oximoronism. This is about gender identity. How do you closet gender? Can we then ask them to keep their malay identity face? Or keep their religious identity to themselves? I am not sure what kind of editors they are to fail to see this simple point.

In the end, it is obvious either writer is not stupid. They are just blatantly choosing to show their intolerant, ignorant and prejudicial ego. It is impossible for someone to lay claims to being "group editors" of a "national newspaper" to write such illogical and unknowledgeable claptrap. Or perhaps it is yet another example for selective presentation of information?

Even if either editor is biased, with an estimated ratio of 1 out of 500 people being born transsexual, and 1 out of 60 people being born with sexual ambiguities ranging from Klinefelter Syndrome to 5ARD to Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome; they stand a good chance of tasting a burden of a lifetime; having a classic transgender child. Perhaps only then they will learn.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What's On Yuki's Mind: Overkill.



I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
Perhaps its just my imagination
Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat, shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation
It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation
At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation
It nullifies the night
From overkill
Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat, shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Come back another day
I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications
Especially at night
I worry over situations
That I know will be alright
It's just overkill
Day after day it reappears
Night after night, my heartbeat, shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Best From The Archives Of "The Journey Of Yuki" - Breaking News: More Evidence On Biological Causes Of Homosexuality Found.


As all the ex-gay ministries parade their scientifically discredited causation theories on homosexuality, more scientific evidence on the innateness of homosexuality have been discovered. So with more truth on homosexuality coming out, perhaps it is high time ex-gay ministries admit the obvious before more people realise about the ex-gay myth: It is all lies.

Source: NewScientist
Brain scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is a biologically fixed trait. (emphasis added)

The scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.

The differences are likely to have been forged in the womb or in early infancy, says Ivanka Savic, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

"This is the most robust measure so far of cerebral differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects," she says.

Previous studies have also shown differences in brain architecture and activity between gay and straight people, but most relied on people's responses to sexuality driven cues that could have been learned, such as rating the attractiveness of male or female faces.

Brain symmetry
To get round this, Savic and her colleague, Per Lindström, chose to measure brain parameters likely to have been fixed at birth.

"That was the whole point of the study, to show parameters that differ, but which couldn't be altered by learning or cognitive processes," says Savic.

First they used MRI scans to find out the overall volume and shapes of brains in a group of 90 volunteers consisting of 25 heterosexuals and 20 homosexuals of each gender.

The results showed that straight men had asymmetric brains, with the right hemisphere slightly larger – and the gay women also had this asymmetry. Gay men, meanwhile, had symmetrical brains like those of straight women.

The team next used PET scans to measure blood flow to the amygdala, part of the brain that governs fear and aggression. The images revealed how the amygdala connected to other parts of the brain, giving clues to how this might influence behaviour.

Depression link
They found that the patterns of connectivity in gay men matched those of straight women, and vice versa (see image, above right). In straight women and gay men, the connections were mainly into regions of the brain that manifest fear as intense anxiety.

"The regions involved in phobia, anxiety and depression overlap with the pattern we see from the amygdala," says Savic.

This is significant, she says, and fits with data showing that women are three times as likely as men to suffer from mood disorders or depression. Gay men have higher rates of depression too, she says, but it's difficult to know whether this is down to biology, homophobia or simply feelings of being "different".

In straight men and lesbians, the amygdala fed its signals mainly into the sensorimotor cortex and the striatum, regions of the brain that trigger the "fight or flight" response. "It's a more action-related response than in women," says Savic.

'Striking differences'
"This study demonstrates that homosexuals of both sexes show strong cross-sex shifts in brain symmetry," says Qazi Rahman, a leading researcher on sexual orientation at Queen Mary college, University of London, UK.

"The connectivity differences reported in the amygdala are striking."

"Paradoxically, it's more informative to look at things that have no direct connection with sexual orientation, and that's where this study scores," says Simon LeVay, a prominent US author who in 1991 reported finding differences (pdf) in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus between straight and gay men.

But as Savic herself acknowledges, the study can't say whether the brain differences are inherited, or result from abnormally high or low exposure in the womb to sex hormones such as testosterone.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0801566105)

Yuki's Thoughts:
I guess even when the dusk is settled, with more and more truths about homosexuality coming up, we would still hear more wacky ideas from ex-gays (and anti-gays). But instead of simply admitting the ridiculous theories of distant fathers and overbearing mothers (and crossdressed by mother ala Edmund Smith); we would instead face up to more imposement of personal evaluation of values upon us, as stupid as their 'traditional values' sound. (With this discovery) They would probably ask questions such as - can this be prevented during pregnancy? Ignorance AND Intolerance is bliss.


Yuki's Choice Reading:

Coverage and comments on this groundbreaking story also available on:
America's Box Turtle Bulletin and Asia's Fridae

Published in "The Journey Of Yuki" on Saturday, June 18, 2008

Friday, December 11, 2009

Reflecting On Fatine.

I am starting to feel disillusioned about the campaign to get Fatine (born Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari) residing in the United Kingdom with her husband. There are several reasons to me feeling a mix of emotions. As much as I want her to be able to stay there and never come back to this largely anti-trans country, I cannot help but wonder about the damage it has caused to the transgender community in Malaysia.


Whether she likes it or not, her decision to open up to the British media has reignited a long standing debate on transgender issues in Malaysia. Although the opponent's arguments fail to stand against the light of the facts and science about transsexualism; however, it is the religious arguments that I am concerned about. These emotive beliefs seem to have created a climate even more less favourable for trans people. And while she is still safe in the United Kingdom, some of us are starting to feel the brunt.


Her outing has also instigated several parties to petition in defense of her marriage to Ian Young. As the third class style media continue to sensationalize her issue (and still using the wrong pronouns), we are fanning the flames of fire to fight for one single person’s right to be with her husband. But who is she? She is virtually an unknown until the news came out in Malaysia. She has never spoken up for the trans community in Malaysia. She has never done any benefit to the LGBT community or for human rights.


So why are we supporting someone that we hardly know, so strongly? Why are we putting her in the pedestal as some kind of trans female heroine for Malaysia? We can argue that she has been discriminated by the Immigration DG, but how many more others have been discriminated by one government official to another? What validation are we looking for in our quest to get her to be safe?


And as a person who was once married to a caucassion staying overseas, I must say I do examine her intentions. I must admit there is a part of me that is desperate to get out of country because of its confused and prejudicial state against trans people. Does she have the same feeling? Is she just using Ian Young? Is it really love that brought them together or is it something else? Is she just an opportunist?


There are a few scenarios now that can happen now. She can stay with Ian Young in the United Kingdom and drop under the radar, and her story will be mentioned once in a while. She will then fade into obscurity. At that time, we would not even know whether she is still married, divorced, or anything. Or she can come back to Malaysia, gets charged and sent to prison where she will be a bigger martyr, something she would never think of. Then within a few months, she would disappear from all the limelight.


Right at this moment, she is taking all the support, love and attention from everyone; but not one instance did she speak up on anything in support back to the other tens of thousands of us that are stranded in Malaysia, that have to face increased transphobia ever since she got herself that 15 minutes of fame. And one can seriously doubt if she will ever speak up for her sisters here in Malaysia. One day, after she leaves the spotlight, we may even wonder what had she done for the LGBT to get our support.


The rest of us that are back here may face the aftermath of all this. No one will know her better than she knows herself, but we know we may be facing difficult times ahead. Currently in Malaysia, trans people are bullied in schools and some are driven to the brink of suicide. Most trans people are not able to get proper jobs, and end up on the streets because they are turned away when they wish to rent a room.


Some would even be turned away when they seek medical help. Many of trans people continue to face biased prosecution from the civil and syariah laws, and persecution from almost all the religions institutions in Malaysia. Most will continue to live with stigmatization and discrimination. More names of trans people who are murdered will be added to the Transgender Day Of Remembrance for next year.


All while Fatine is miles and miles away, enjoying her new home, new life, and close to her new freedom.


Previous story below.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Hearty Love Story Turned Into A Farce By News Media And Immigration Official.


What began as an obstacle across the beautiful relationship between Fatine (Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari) and Ian Young has been turned by our so-called “the people’s paper” into a confused mesh of tomatoes ready to be thrown back on the faces of the writers, editors and the paper “The Star”. The first mention was reasonable actually, professional; except for the mis-gendering. The usual usage of male pronouns to describe Fatine shows incredible disrespect to a woman Ian Young has called his wife.

Then came for some reason, two news articles on the same subject two days in a row, on the repercussions should Fatine be forced to return home. Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman, the Immigration Deparment director-general, also joined in the nastiness. The first news piece contained a quote which confirmed full bias.

He said the department would have to look at Mohammed Fazdil’s travel documents to ascertain if he had committed any offence and would not speculate on whether an offence had been committed until it had the chance to investigate the case.

“We view problems like overstaying very seriously because committing an offence overseas also affects the image of the country but we have to look at all aspects on the case before deciding if action will be taken.

(In other sources such as the NST, the words "disgraced" and "shame" were also noted. Sigh.)

The strange thing is the offence has yet to be committed. But yet they wish to check her documents, as if to find any irregularity to prosecute her with. And with all the talk about “the image of the country”, Abdul Rahman Othman totally ignored the fact that Malaysia is in the spotlight here, not the trans woman. Malaysia, unlike countries such as Singapore, has stringent rules that discriminate against transgender people. In most parts of Malaysia, trans women are not allowed to have female looking photos on their passports, let alone identification cards and vice versa. And the gender marker on these documents places Malaysian transgender people at risk of detention and interrogation every time they go overseas. It is also placing them in danger of harassment and ridicule from some immigration officers across the seas. So the true “image of the country” here is being represented by Malaysia themselves. Which is probably what the couple is hoping to capitalize on, and bring awareness to this issue about this country.

Then came “journalist” Dharmender “Singh” to misrepresent us totally. “He” and "The Star" seem to have confusion in addressing us, but then settled for transvestite for the title and transsexual for the body, even though these two words mean two totally different groups of people! And just as the previous two "news articles", "they" continuously mis-gender Fatine with male pronouns. And by publishing the same "story" two days in a row, "they" seem to have an obsession with this couple. And it sickens me that the nice couple only wants to grow in love together, but our super shallow "immigration officials" and "media", are not helping the situation. Instead, "they" used this opportunity to sensationalize the "issue". When you start to mind other people’s personal relationships and make a mockery out of it, it means you have downgraded your own self respect.

Oh, in case you are wondering what is with the quotation marks, Dharmender “Singh” wrote this:
It was reported on Sunday that Mohammed Fazdil or Fatine, 36, who recently "married” property maintenance company owner Ian Young in a civil partnership, was denied his visa in September on grounds that his passport contained an incorrect photograph. (bold emphasis mine)

And on the caption for the photograph, this “journalist” wrote:
In trouble: Mohammed Fazdil or Fatine was told to return to Malaysia after his visa had expired. This picture is courtesy of Ian Young, whom he ‘married’ in Britain. (bold emphasis mine)

It was insulting enough for this “Singh” to “write” using “quotations marks” to express his “opinion” to “invalidate” a situation. But when “he” totally went out of his “way” to use “it” to “invalidate” their wonderful marriage, I need to seriously doubt that “he” is a “writer” after all. Maybe “he” is just a jerk. And "The Star" is "the paper" with no integrity.


Yuki's thoughts:

The pick of the most stupid, freakish and atrocious blog commentary on this matter must come from this extremist fundie. He seems so intoxicated and drunk into his own world, he thinks all transgender people are homosexuals and went out of his mind to rant about it. He also thinks transgender people are more powerful to bring the end of the world than global warming and war. With the sprouting of myths about homosexuality to making himself totally devoid of brain cells to understand anything about sexual orientation and gender identity, he proved his evil heart by hatemongering against LGBT people. And adding to that, he uses Islam as a base to his claims, even though the word homosexual never appeared in their Quran, and idiots like him likes to distort other people’s love and relationship, into just lust and sex. And transsexuality, the medical condition, was never in their Quran either. Amazing how sotongs like him, loves to make force connections to religion when they just simply hate people they love to discriminate.

And personally, I find it very amusing when people claim I am homosexual, when I am a closeted asexual.

Well, at least all of us trans women get some 'pahala' each for the nonsense by this idiot, especially for calling us "pondan".