COMMENT | Many activists especially in the LGBTQ community have written or called me asking me what I think of the Nur Sajat situation. The only thing I know about this entrepreneur is that Jakim wanted her to undergo some kind of test to determine if she was male or female. Hence the above satirical opening quote.

Apparently the situation has escalated. Nur Sajt (also known as Muhammad Sajad Kamaruzzaman) recently preformed the umrah and she did so attired in the telekung (the female prayer attire) while in Mecca. This naturally has resulted in a backlash with everyone from Pakatan Harapan’s religious czar weighing in, "This tarnishes the image of Islam and I am disappointed with what happened. I am still waiting for a report because I was made to understand Nur Sajat is still in Mecca and has yet to return". And the mufti of Perlis who commenting on rhetoric that "God had cursed her" said this: "We need to advise him (Muhammad Sajad) in a good way. I just don't agree with the public saying that he is cursed by God. ”

Nur Sajat, meanwhile, in private social media accounts has said this of her sojourn to the holy land: “When I arrived here, I had the intention to converse with God concerning my existence. Why was I born this way? Why did Allah choose me to become like this? Why do I get a lot of tests? Why do people say I am cursed and won’t go to Heaven?”

Harapan’s religious czar, Mujahid Yusof Rawa has since “ordered” the MCMC to ban any social media postings by Nur Sajat because it caused unease amongst Muslims. What I want to know is, does this kind of ruling only apply to Muslims who cause unease amongst Muslims or is this a precedent for anyone who causes unease amongst Muslims?

 I suppose this is the kind of thing we can expect as after all Jakim and MCMC teamed up to create a “smart hadith” application – “Jakim director-general Paimuzi Yahya in a statement today said the application was developed in collaboration with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and is aimed at upholding hadith as the second source of reference for Muslims after the al-Quran.”

 Adding to this, Jakim also has officers stationed at MCMC to monitor “insults” against Islam -“ Its director-general, Mohamad Nordin Ibrahim said that Jakim had officers stationed at MCMC to take the necessary action if there were any complaints from consumers on insults made against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media sites.”

Add to the absurdity of all of this is the 2014 Court of Appeal ruling declaring a Negeri Sembilan syariah law criminalising cross-dressing as inconsistent with the Federal Constitution. Indeed judge Mohd Hishamuddin Mohd Yunus while delivering his judgment "described Section 66 with words such as 'degrading', 'oppressive', 'inhuman' and 'depriving' the appellants of their dignity. He also lashed out at the Seremban High Court judge Siti Mariah Ahmad who declared in her decision back in October 2012 that the law was needed to prevent homosexuality and the spread of HIV.

“In our judgment, the above remarks and findings were unsupported by and contrary to the evidence. It was based on personal feelings and prejudice.”So what I want to know is why is MCMC colluding and conspiring with the religious bureaucracy to further bigoted and prejudiced agendas against a citizen of this country by restricting her free speech? Who is the minister-in-charge of this government body?

According to the travel agency involved (Albayt Travel [M] Sdn Bhd) which has come under the spotlight, “[...] on Albayt's preliminary advice, the client agreed to abide by and respect the public's opinion by never displaying any kind of visual to the public with possible causes of misinterpretation. But what happened was beyond our expectations and we hope everyone is clear on this".

The travel agency has advised her to make a public apology and Nur Sajat has said that she will resolve the matter when she returns home. I don’t know if she owes people who are offended by her actions an apology but I do think that when you agree to a travel agency terms especially when they are doing something that involves a trip to the holiest of holies and you throw them under the bus by shining a big spotlight on them, you should do something especially because you are making a religious and political statement at their expense.

The mufti of Perlis also made an observation about Nur Sajat’s motive for doing something like this which should not be dismissed out of hand: “Kadang-kadang sesetengah orang ini ada cara dia dalam mencari publisiti khususnya dalam perniagaan tetapi saya pun tak tahu apa niat sebenar dia dengan bertindak sedemikian".

Nur Sajat was seeking publicity and who knows if it may have been related to her business – young folks tell be the personal is the business as opposed to the personal is the political – but whether you agree with her or not, she has brought down the wrath of the state on herself and put a spotlight on her rights as guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

I have never understood why religious people are so consumed with these issues. Someone asked me, how I would feel if a transgendered person was insulting "Hinduism". My response was, "Have you read texts which Hindus consider scared and understood the sexual themes in them? India recognises trans people as a third gender." And then there is this.

I have to admit, I am impressed by how she chooses to conduct her life in public. Not only does she have to deal with online opprobrium but she also has to deal with the religious bureaucracy. When she pleaded guilty and paid a fine for a GST related offence, the wolves were out linking her sexuality with her “criminal conduct” forgetting the fact that Muslim politicians are at this moment dealing with criminal cases of their own.

I have no idea if the state is still interested in whether Nur Sajat is male or female but what boggles the mind is that our tax ringgit is used for these kinds of investigations. Mujahid who advocates hate speech laws understands that Muslims causing unease to other people are not part of hate speech laws and never will be.

Read the comments on social media describing the LGBTQ community in the most hateful language. Then compare those comments with the actions of the state and federal governments when it comes to this community. Bullies, especially those who weaponise religion and culture, always target the marginalised in their communities before working up the courage to move on to bigger targets.

For most so-called progressives and the Malay right which supports Harapan, specifically the Bersatu faction, this is a non-issue. These people hate the LGBT community (or are a part of the community but choose for whatever reasons to vilify them and understand their speech will always be protected by the state.

Nobody cares that this is a government which claims to want to protect the constitutional rights of all citizens but has no problem using religion to suppress the voice and rights of those it considers politically expendable.