ISIS in Southeast Asia: Internalized Wahhabism is a Major Factor

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/ISEAS_Perspective_2016_24.pdf
ISIS in Southeast Asia: Internalized Wahhabism is a Major Factor

Recent media reports have speculated on an impending declaration of an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) caliphate in Southeast Asia. Such an eventuality poses a grave threat to the pluralistic landscape of Southeast Asian societies.  Surveys over the past few years have worryingly indicated a rise in the level of extremist tendencies among Southeast Asian Muslims, albeit these tendencies are still at a comparatively low level.  The internalization since the 1970s of the Wahhabi brand of Salafism among Southeast Asian Muslims is the major factor behind this apparent shift towards a more radical worldview. The relatively low level of concern over rising Islamist extremism among Indonesian and Malaysian Muslims indicates a worrying institutionalization of radical interpretations of Islam in the general Islamic landscape of both countries.  Countering Salafization is rendered difficult by the fact that influential Muslim personalities and elements within Muslim-majority states have themselves embraced aspects of Wahhabism. Between Wahhabism and ISIS, which is but its violent manifestation, lies a short and slippery slope.

More abuse in prison against transgenders exposed

http://www.beritadaily.com/news/2016-05-24/42643/more-abuse-in-prison-against-transgenders-exposed
KUALA LUMPUR: Transgender Nisha Ayub's horrendous time in Kajang prison is not uncommon amongst transwomen – some have endured similar experience but due to fear many prefer to stay silent.

Recently, Berita Daily had managed to speak to a former inmate – also a transgender who had been in jail for the same reason as Nisha – but fearing that she might be targeted for revealing the black episode, the woman requested anonymity.

“The prison is not a place where you'll get education or a place where they can transform you into someone better. It is hell,” she said without hesitating.

“The transwomen are the minority and just like Nisha's account we are the easy target. They (inmates and prison guards) will make fun of you. There is not a day that you'll feel safe.

“I was humiliated. They strip my dignity away,” she told Berita Daily.

The transwoman mirrored Nisha's story saying that many transwomen had to seek protection from the prison guards but had to also return the 'favour' back to them.

“Nisha's story is common among us. We were an easy target. I was made to do what Nisha had to do to the inmate and after that I needed protection and found one.

“Sometimes I'll get extra food after a massage session. There was sexual elements but no penetration,” she recalled.

Asked to described more about her time, the 34 year old transwoman refused, saying that she was traumatised by the whole experience.

Meanwhile, human rights activist, Siti Kasim when contacted said sexual abuse and physical torture does not just happen inside prison but also in police lockup and involve religious officers.

“Once I went to a hairdresser and there was this beautiful transwoman with beautiful long hair. I admire her as a person as she was bubbly and friendly. I didn't think much of it because I accept people as they are. Anyway, the next time I went again to the hairdresser, I met her again but this time she was nearly bald and looking really sad and embarrass.

“I asked her what has happened. She told me she was just sitting at a bus stop waiting for the bus. A police car stopped and asked for her IC. It just happened that she just lost her IC but already reported and she has a piece of paper to prove it whilst she goes to make a new one.

Despite that, the police took her to the police station, stripped her and put her in a man's cell. Her hair was shaved and was told if she doesn't want to be charged, she has to give sexual favours to them. She was crying whilst telling me this story. I was shocked and angry upon hearing her awful experience.

''Of course the story above is about the police and not in the prison and of course, many of them have told me stories of abuse towards them including religious officers asking for sexual favours,” she disclosed. 

fate of dead trans body in Malaysia

Update: actually this kind of news is propagated by the government religious body Jakim, now that it came our from their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DakwahJAKIM/posts/10154174455322398:0 You'll get this kind of article from time to time in Malay world, they will keep publish them on and on from time to time rather study and research about the nature of transwomen and transmen. You'll hear this quite often, when the imam/priest doing the ritual of bathing or cleansing the body The classic case is when you carry the body to the graveyard the body is so heavy and is impossible to carry by strong men hinting that she's full of sin simply because being who she was (transitioning/surgery) and when its impossible to bury her body because the spot where she'll be buried is full of water suddenly or the earth will reject her body. In this newly published blog article, the person encounter while cleansing the dead-trans-body: -The body suddenly turned black -The never ending shit oozing out form the anus -Pus, blood and maggots coming out from the genital area -After cleanse with 'special water', he discovered the body rotten even faster than before and the fake boobs shrunk -close friends laughs at the funeral -ask any transwomen to berubah 'change' back to whatever he think it is -change sex is haram -thus the neverending ignorance in Malay world about Trans issues And now we have social media to counter back whatever these idiot is spreading. My respected friends who's working directly with the trans community and involved in dealing with the ritual and funeral of countless transwomen so far, nothing of the above nasty things happen and its always end with a very peaceful ceremony. Personally i'm a bit sad that till today my single mom who's quite old couldn't accept me but in a way i understand that she loves me so much and don't want my dead body end up like that and burn to crisps in hell but i have to move on... original article: http://bulletinmedia.blogspot.fi/2016/05/badannya-bertukar-jadi-lelaki-ini.html

:(

https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/ISEAS_Perspective_2016_24.pdf

abolish Jawi/mansuhkan Jawi

Today :(

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/paradise-closed-to-crossdressers-and-transgenders-jawi-says-in-sermon

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Transgender or crossdressing Muslims will be denied entry into Paradise, the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) said in its Friday sermon today.

The sermon prepared for use in mosques in the federal territory based this on a hadith saying Prophet Muhammad had cursed men who made themselves appear as women and vice versa.

“This is not just an issue about the freedom of attire or how to dress, but worse, it is a denial of a  person’s natural inherent qualities of mind and character as well as Qada al-Qadr of Allah SWT. 

“Do we want our daughters,  wives,  sisters  and  mothers to mingle with such fake ‘women’? Who would continue our family lineage if  our young  girls  marry so-called ‘men’?” the sermon asked.

“If this act of deviation is cursed by Rasulullah SAW, then do not hope to gain any blessings or assistance in the Hereafter.”

Transgenders and others with non-heterosexual orientations are rejected by conservative Muslim Malaysia and often the subject of enforcement by religious authorities.

In 2014, the transgender community won a landmark case against a state religious authority when the Court of Appeal declared a Negri Sembilan shariah law against crossdressing to be unconstitutional.

The decision was overturned, however, by the Federal Court on appeal.

Religious authorities continue to pursue such groups, with Jawi last month raiding a private fundraising event by trans people and arresting one person.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/paradise-closed-to-crossdressers-and-transgenders-jawi-says-in-sermon#sthash.5fJEBGkL.dpuf

deep colon

does colonization from the previous time could alter or leave a stamp in your dna?

Buang Bayi @ Juiceonline

...
http://www.juiceonline.com/buang-bayi-by-shika/

Artist Shika (Shieko Reto) has created a safe haven for her artwork after controversially comparing artists throwing away their art to babies being dumped. Everyone is welcome to the exhibition, and are encouraged to express themselves in her sanctuary. Come and get your portrait drawn in the opposite gender (or with no gender at all) by the star herself or watch the Japanese movies that will be playing in the background. Interesting workshops are also offered such as drawing within half a minute, making zines and composing music. Although a significant portion of Shika’s output over the years have been dealing with heavy subjects; her approach has been known to be warm and childlike in aesthetic.

Date 12 – 20 March ’16
Time 11am
Venue KerbauWorks

More information on the event can be found here.

Buang Bayi exhibition review from The Star

http://www.star2.com/culture/arts/2016/03/13/no-babies-were-harmed-in-the-making-of-buang-bayi/

No babies were harmed in the making of Buang Bayi

2016/03/13/

There is nothing trivial or transient about Shika Corona’s confessional artworks in her show Buang Bayi at the newly launched independent arts space KerbauWorks in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malacca-born KL-based visual artist is no less playful and whimsical as she chronicles her daily experiences – as an artist and a woman – but her struggle seems deeply interminable.

That is the transgender experience in Malaysia, notes the freelance illustrator/graphic designer, part-time activist and fulltime daydreaming artist formerly known as Shieko Reto.

“Today the term ‘transgender’ is in the forefront of social consciousness and the word has become an umbrella word to accommodate others that don’t fit the male/female gender binary system, but in Malaysia, there is still a lot of confusion about it,” she says.

What more of the personal struggle transpersons go through, from the internal sufferings of gender dysphoria (the distress experienced when a person’s gender identity is contrary to her or his gender at birth) to the external daily strife as a minority trying to participate fully in society and simply live.

Inevitably, the “I” in Shika’s autobiographical show is very much also about the “us”, giving a new facet to the women’s movement maxim of “the personal is political”.

Shika’s mis.fit which is featured in her Buang Bayi show in KL. Photo: Shika

Shika, who first became involved in the art world as a street artist in 2003 and founded an urban art collective Sembur With Style (Spray with Style), became a fulltime artist after she quit her advertising job in 2005.

Her freelance work with local non-governmental organisations gave her the opportunity to find her personal voice and for her community. It also gave her a chance to hone her illustration and comic drawing skills.

Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout Malaysia such the alternative art festival Not That Balai in 2005, the 49th Merdeka Mural at the National Visual Art Gallery in 2010 and Seksualiti Merdeka 2012 at the Annexe Gallery in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur. In 2013, Shika participated in the Singapore Biennale – If The World Changed with her work Waiting Room, a mixed media installation depicting the transgender persons’ experience of “waiting to be transformed and accepted by the community.”

Buang Bayi, which is curated by the artist herself, features a variety of works from 2014-2016.

Notes Shika, as in many cases, art is the safe space to explore and express the challenges and discrimination faced by the transgender community.

Shika’s graveyardshift (printed canvas).

“We are the minority in this country. My art, I guess, is my way of saying that a person like me exists, despite the daily pressure from society, media and now, the Internet, to ‘change’… because they think our existence and way of life is wrong.”

But why Buang Bayi (baby dumping)?

“It’s just an ironical way to describe how important my artwork is, they are like my babies,” she says with an awkward laugh.

Unspoken, however, is how important gender identity is to the transpersons, and how it cannot be easily changed or discarded as some factions in society believe or expect.

Yet, as testimony to her strength and spirit, the humour and joy of life in Shika’s works are as strong as the rage, fear and frustration of the transwoman experience.

Her love of science fiction and music is represented in her works as equally as her politics. Her infatuation with colours meanwhile comes through in her continuous experiments for her drawings and illustrations, especially in her primary colour acrylic print series.

One lasting influence, however, is Japanese manga and anime, and pop art, as evident in the exhibition.

“I grew up in the 1980s, so I have absorbed and am warped by most of the 80s cartoon and pop culture.”

A common theme in her work is “tebabo”, which she says is a play on the comic onomoetopia for explosion.

Tebabo is the Malay version of “kapow”, “zoom” and “zing”, explains Shika.

“There are thousands words to describe many things but in Malay, the only word I can remember from childhood to describe the sound of an explosion is tebabo.”

Her explorations of her Malaysian identity has led her to incorporate the word tebabo in her works in Tamil, Chinese and Arabic, “like our street signs that we still have in many places in Malaysia”, she says.

A common theme in Shika’s work is Tebabo which she says is a play on the comic onomoetopia for explosion.

Malaysiana as a reflection of a distant memory and nostalgia of her growing up years is also present in her art, “especially the junk food that I consumed and kedai runcit I went to a lot as a child,” she quips.

Her nostalgia for the 1980s was intensified with her travels in the last two years to Japan and Philippines, where she met and researched the transgender communities there.

“My travels reminded me even more strongly of my origins and roots, and their relation to my identity, which are coming out strongly in my works.”

The two countries also exposed her to different experiences of gender dysphoria, which is manifested in her work, namely Ms. Fit which calls for a new construct of the concept of womanhood.

“Some people are lucky enough to be born with synchronised gender and body but some people are born with their gender and body not aligned, like transwomen and transmen, so they live their whole lives trying to synchronise their outer self to the inner self and often have to go against the system in the world which is not balanced yet.

“In Ms.Fit, you can see how hard it is to fit in the society’s social construct of what a woman is supposed to be, so I say let’s destroy the old construct and build a new one,” says Shika.

Thus interwoven in the personal and the political of Buang Bayi is a sincere invitation for everyone to join her in the exploration of our gender identities.

Buang Bayi promises to be like a baby shower of sorts where visitors can also get their portrait drawn – in the opposite gender (or with no gender at all) – by the mother, Shika. There will also be zine-making and music composing workshops, as well as short film screenings.

---

Shika’s Buang Bayi is on at KerbauWorks, in Bangsar, KL till March 20. Facebook: KerbauWorks.