DONʼT KNOW WHICH TOILET TO USE? CHECK YOUR PRIVATE PARTS FIRST, SAYS PERLIS MUFTI

KANGAR: The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have been asked to “check their private parts” first before entering public toilets.

Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said this in regards to the debate on transgenders and public toilets.

Some people said LGBTs should follow their original gender in deciding whether to use male or female toilets.

Some said they should be allowed to use toilets according to the gender they identify with.

Asri, however, said the confusion appeared to be getting worse with many asking him which toilet transgenders should use.

“I would like to suggest that if people feel conflicted by this confusion, they should visit an expert (doctor) to examine their private parts,” he said in a statement on Facebook.

He said if a person were to urinate via a man’s private part, then the person should enter a male toilet, and the same goes if the person had female private parts.

“If nothing comes out, or it (urine) does not come out via a male or female private part, then please go to the hospital. If the doctors say you’re a disabled person, then you can enter the OKU (handicapped) toilet.

“If you have no means to see an expert, I think you can examine yourselves.”

Previously, the New Straits Times Press reported Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Mahfuz Omar as saying the demands by LGBTs would not be entertained in a rushed manner, stating that they would be met only based on what was contained in the Constitution without putting aside one’s original identity.

He had said, for now, his ministry did not have any record of discrimination against LGBTs at the workplace.

However, he said, many were perhaps afraid to report for fear of losing their jobs.

Mahfuz had said this when asked to comment on the comment by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who asked the public not to discriminate against transgenders.

In Kuala Lumpur, Mujahid clarified that he had not given any instruction to transgenders to use female public toilets.

He said his remarks made on Friday were not a decision or order from his department.

“It was not a final decision nor an instruction, but merely my spontaneous response (to a question from a journalist).

“I would like to stress, there has been no instruction or permission from me for transgender people to share the women’s toilet... only ‘maybe’ or ‘if ’. The same goes with position during prayers.

“Whatever it is, I apologise to all who were offended by the confusion that arose and I retract any remark deemed inappropriate,” he said in a statement.

I would like to stress, there has been no instruction or permission from me for transgender people to share the women’s toilet. DATUK DR MUJAHID YUSOF RAWA

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department