KLANG: When transgender activist Malathi was nine, she was expelled from school after being accused of stealing.
“The teacher hung a card around my neck with the words nan oru thirudan (I am a thief) and made me visit every class in the school.
“My illiterate mother begged the school head for a transfer letter, but she was turned away and I was expelled from school,” the 40-year-old recalled.
The incident was a turning point in her life, which marked the beginning of a journey along a path strewn with pain, torture and tears.
“I started working at a food stall along Jalan Raja Laut and made friends with people who were ‘soft’ like me. They even allowed me to use their cosmetics.
“One day my mother saw traces of lipstick on my lips and beat me until I could not go to work for a week,’’ said Malathi, who was born male.
She ran away from home soon after the incident and was taken in by a female sex worker who introduced her to the flesh trade. Malathi was just 11 then.
“I had no choice other than becoming a sex worker; no one wanted to employ a transgender child,” she said, adding she left the trade about seven years ago after years riddled with rape, physical and verbal abuse, as well as mental torture.
Malathi now works for a non-governmental organisation that helps transgenders.
Another transgender, 51-year-old Tasha, said she became a sex worker at the age of 16 while she was transitioning.
“I started taking hormones and did whatever was required to become a woman.
“For that I needed money, and so I turned to selling sex,’’ she explained.
She said she was often beaten up and humiliated by not only her clients but also passersby who spotted her.
“The Malaysian mentality is such that they get all worked up over queer people, so how could we find a job other than providing sexual services?’’ she asked.
Tasha, who works from 10pm to 4am nightly, said she used to make about RM300 to RM400 per day – but her income had since dropped tremendously to about RM200 a week.
“I am already old, so there aren’t many men receptive towards me anymore,” she said, adding that she had also taken up odd jobs such as cleaning food stalls and restaurants.
Kauslaya, a 28-year-old transgender social worker, began working as a sex worker between the age of 23 and 25.
Having worked at a pharmacy, she left the job after her employers expressed discomfort with her transition.
“I went to many pharmacies seeking employment, but none wanted to employ me even though I was a trained health adviser,’’ she said.
She said being a sex worker was a tortuous journey that exposed her to the ugly side of mankind. She added that the foreigners treated her with kindness, but the local men were very harsh and abusive.
“There was one man who stubbed his cigarette on my arm, and there were also others who pretended to be policemen so that they could get away without paying,’’ she said.
Malathi, Tasha and Kausalya said their families were all unaware that they were sex workers.
They also reaffirmed that they would have chosen a different path in life if given the option.
Mitch Yusmar Yusuf, executive director of the Seed Foundation that watches out for the transgenders, said the community was mostly trapped in a vicious cycle.
“It all relates back to the kind of policies, the constant criminalisation of the community, as well as the non-recognition by society and the relevant authorities that do this to them,” he said.
He said as children grow up and notice that they are different and want to be true to themselves, they face ridicule, abuse and discrimination.
“They cannot continue their education and receive no opportunities,’’ he added.
