Pre-British era (before 1819)[]
There exist no known written records of same-sex love in pre-colonial Singapore and, as a corollary, of any "movement" in reaction to perceived or real oppression of such activity. However, if one considers ancient Singapore as part of the wider Malay archipelago, one of the earliest accounts of non-heteronormative sex is found in the ancient Javanese text called the Nagarakretagama, which was written in 1365. This manuscript mentions a king named Kertanegara, who ruled the Singhasari kingdom in East Java from 1268 to 1292. The text describes him as having a male lover named Sanggramawijaya, who later became his successor. The text also implies that Kertanegara had sexual relations with other men, such as his ministers and generals.
In the case of Malaysian history, there are some indications of non-heteronormative sex among the indigenous peoples, such as the Mah Meri, the Semai, and the Temiar, who inhabit the Malay Peninsula. According to anthropologist Michael Peletz, these groups have a concept of gender fluidity and multiple genders, which allows for the possibility of same-sex relations and transgender expressions. Peletz also notes that some of these groups practice ritual cross-dressing and role reversal as part of their religious ceremonies.
Another source of evidence for non-heteronormative sex in Malaysian history is the literary tradition of the Malay world, which includes present-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, and parts of Thailand and the Philippines. Some of the classical Malay texts, such as the Hikayat Hang Tuah (Epic of Hang Tuah), the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals), and the Hikayat Panji Semirang (Tale of Prince Semirang), contain references to same-sex love, homoeroticism, and gender ambiguity among the characters. For example, in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, the legendary hero Hang Tuah falls in love with his male companion Hang Jebat, who later rebels against the sultan and is killed by Hang Tuah in a tragic duel. In the Sejarah Melayu, there is a story of a king who disguises himself as a woman and marries another king, only to be exposed by a jealous concubine. The Hikayat Panji Semirang, an epic poem which dates from the 14th century, tells of the adventures of a sexually fluid hero, Panji Semirang and narrates several instances of cross-dressing, gender swapping, and bisexual attraction among the protagonists. It was well known and beloved throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. Another traditional Javanese literary work, Serat Centhini, written in 1814, is the Southeast Asian version of India's famed Kama Sutra. This stylised sex manual has detailed descriptions of sodomy, fellatio, mutual masturbation and transvestism. The poem shows that male homosexuality was an unproblematic, everyday part of a highly varied traditional Javanese sexual culture. These literary examples suggest that non-heteronormative sex was not entirely taboo or invisible in the pre-colonial Malay society, but rather a part of its cultural diversity and complexity. However, it is important to note that these texts are not necessarily historical records, but rather fictional narratives that may reflect the authors' imagination, ideology, or artistic expression.
Other salient examples of the traditional tolerance for gender diversity in neighbouring Malaysia have been quoted by academic Julian CH Lee in his book, "Policing Sexuality", published by Zed Books Ltd in August 2012[1]. There are records from as early as the 15th century of gender fluid Malay priests or courtesans called sida-sida, who served in the palaces of Malay sultans. These people were typically “male-bodied priests or courtiers” who undertook “androgynous behavior” such as wearing women’s clothes and likely “engaged in sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex” or “both sexes.” In the 19th century, the manang bali were gender fluid Iban shamans of Sarawak. They were assigned male at birth individuals who adopted the mannerisms, clothing and lifestyle of women, even taking on men as husbands. This was undertaken in order for them to become healers, mediators between spirits and people, village leaders and intermediaries. Not only were they tolerated but even celebrated and looked upon with great esteem because of their contribution to society. So accepted was gender diversity in Malaysia that as late as the 1960s, known "specialised homosexual villages" existed in Kelantan, with one even abutting on the Sultan's palace.
At least one Malaysian monarch was known to be openly homosexual. Captain Alexander Hamilton, an English sailor who visited Old Johor in 1695, wrote about the behaviour of Sultan Mahmud Shah II. His accounts were corroborated by the Dutch delegate to Johor in 1699. They noted that the Sultan was partial to handsome men. Hamilton in his book, A New Account of the East Indies[2] published in Edinburgh in 1727, recounted the following story:
"In anno 1695, their King was a youth of twenty years of age, and being vitiously inclined, was so corrupted by adulation and flagitious company, that he became intolerable. I went to Johor Lama at that time, to traffic with his subjects...
He was a great sodomite, and had taken many of his orang kaya or nobles' sons, by force into his palace for that abominable service. A Moorish merchant, who was a freighter on board my ship, had a handsome boy to his son, whom the King one day saw, and would needs have him for a catamite. He threatened the father, that if he did not send him with good will, he would have him by force. The poor man had taken a house close by our ship, and immediately came with his son on board, imploring my protection, which I promised him."
"He continued his insupportable tyranny and brutality for a year or two after I was gone, and his mother, to try if he could be broke off that unnatural custom of converse with males, persuaded a beautiful young woman to visit him, when he was a bed, which she did, and allured him with her embraces, but he was so far from being pleased with her conversation, that he called his black guard, and made them break both her arms, for offering to embrace his royal person. She cried, and said it was by his mother’s order she came, but that was no excuse."
Up to as late as the 1980s, the Malaysian government offered gender-affirming surgeries — the only country in Southeast Asia to provide such operations apart from Thailand and Singapore. Transgender health was so widely embraced that even the government contributed funds towards the Mak Nyah Association. Unfortunately, everything changed in 1983 when a fatwa was issued by the Conference of Rulers banning such surgeries and the hospital that undertook it was shut down, marking the beginning of a repressive, anti-LGBT chapter in Malaysia’s history.
Michael Peletz notes that between the 15th and 18th centuries, Southeast Asia was characterised by gender fluidity, egalitarianism and considerable female autonomy. Furthermore, there were culturally sanctioned positions for transgender individuals all across the region where one finds a tradition of cross-dressing and other forms of gender-transgressive behaviour. Associated with these is a rich local lexicon and a variety of rituals. A vast corpus of works by colonial civil servants, missionaries and travellers in the 19th and early 20th centuries yielded accounts of the natives' sexuality, which in many instances shocked the Judeo-Christian morality of their Western colonial masters.
The Dutch observed that Dyaks, Acehnese, Bugis, Balinese, Javanese, Batak, Minangkabau and Chinese in the vast Malay archipelago shared a passionate addiction to vices such as pederasty and homosexual sodomy. The following is a description from physician Julius Jacobs after his visit to Bali in the early 1880s[3],[4] where he observed many dance performances by young boys dressed up like women:
"One knows that they are boys, and it is sickening to see men from all strata of Balinese society proffering their kepengs (Chinese coins) to have the chance to dance with these children, sometimes in the queerest postures; one is still more revolted to discover that these children, sometimes after exercising for hours in a perpendicular position, are compelled, utterly exhausted though they may be, to carry out horizontal maneuvers with the highest bidders, after being fondled by this man and kissed by that."
Prior to the arrival of British traders and colonists in 1819, Singapore was largely populated by small, dispersed settlements of Orang Asli (aborigines) and Malays of the Johor-Riau archipelago who engaged mainly in subsistence farming, fishery and trade. These people and the island came under the jurisdiction of the Sultanate of Johor which was the successor of the Malacca Sultanate, both of which had their own codes of law but no formal legal system. It is also possible that adat law, often inadequately translated as "customary law", governed the island's inhabitants. The highest authority lay in the hands of the Yang di-Pertuan of Johor who was also known as the Sultan of Johor. He was advised by the Majlis Orang Kaya (Council of Rich Men). Amongst the council members was the Temenggong of Johor who lived in Telok Blangah, Singapore and who administered the island based on the level of authority bestowed upon him by the Sultan of Johor[5]. However, little is known about the laws that were actually applicable and the British have always assumed that no law prevailed on the island when it was acquired.
We can retropolate from the culture of contemporary Malays that there was probably much tolerance towards men who indulged in surreptitious homosexual activity, as evidenced by the absence of any vocal or physical violence against such people, outside of the framework of the imported Islamic sociopolitical system. Neither did non-heteronormative Malay men have to band together to form a movement because it was never warranted in the absence of overt oppression.
Effeminate men and male-to-female cross-dressers were traditionally and derisively called bapok (spelt "bapuk" in Standard Malay) or pondan in Malaysia, and banci or bencong in Indonesia (see main article: Singapore gay terminology). However, apart from being teased and regarded ceteris paribus as having a lower status than their more masculine counterparts, there is no hatred directed against them, as is so often the situation in the West. In the 1980s, the more respectful and politically correct terms of mak nyah in Malaysia and waria in Indonesia were coined to replace the age-old slurs. These communities are regarded as the third gender and have their own niche in traditional society which acknowledged the existence of alternatives to heterosexual practices. They were recognised, tolerated and even incorporated into community life, occupying a stable, albeit marginalised position within society. This situation is similar to the traditional cultures of the larger Malayo-Polynesian and Austronesian regions, as well as throughout Southeast Asia. Such traditions were a function of age-old indigenous belief systems that portrayed some gods as androgynous or hermaphroditic (possessing the characteristics of both sexes). Given this view of divinity, people who embodied both masculinity and femininity in their gender and/or sexuality were believed to be closer to the divine and uniquely capable of mediating between the spirits and humans.
Prime examples are seen in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province. When the Europeans first visited the region in the 16th century, they were shocked by what they saw. Portuguese Jesuit missionary Antonio de Paiva wrote a scandalising letter to his Catholic bishop in 1544 about his observations of the Bugis people[6],[7]:
“Your Lordship will know that the priests of these kings are generally called bissus. They grow no hair on their beards, dress in a womanly fashion, and grow their hair long and braided; they imitate [women’s] speech because they adopt all of the female gestures and inclinations. They marry and are received, according to the custom of the land, with other common men, and they live indoors, uniting carnally in their secret places with the men whom they have for husbands...”
He concluded the letter with his amazement that the Christian god, who had destroyed "three cities of Sodom for the same sin," had not yet smited such "wanton people" who were "encircled by evil." The European colonial powers mocked Southeast Asia's tolerance for gender and sexual diversity, perceiving their attitudes as evidence the region needed “redemptive civilisation. The bissu tradition, which considers these individuals as neither male nor female, dates back to the 13th century. They are a “fifth gender” within the Bugis' gender system, which comprises also male men (oroané), female women (makkunrai), male women (calabai) and female men (calalai). A similar culture is shared by the to burake of the Torajan people from the same region of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province[8]. In the past, these transgender individuals were religious leaders who played important roles in their communities. Bissu and to burake led spiritual ceremonies or harvest rituals in villages. The people would admire and honour a village in which a to burake lived.
Elsewhere in Austronesia, one finds the palopa and intersex kwolu-aatmwol of Papua New Guinea, the sistergirls of the Tiwi Islands, the palao'ana of the Northern Mariana Islands including Guam, the fa'afafine of Samoa, American Samoa and Tokelau, the fakafefine or fakaleiti/leiti of Tonga, the whakawahine of the Maoris, the takataapui of Aotearoa New Zealand, the akava'ine of the Cook Islands Maoris, the fakafifine of Niue, the mahu of Hawaii and the mahu vahine of Tahiti.
Some tribes in the southeast of Papua, similar to tribes in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea, practised “ritualised homosexuality”. This practice required young men to perform oral sex on elder males as part of their rite of passage into manhood. They believed that semen was the source of life and the essence of masculinity, important for boys to become real men.
In East Java, the traditional dance performance Reog Ponorogo depicts intimate relationships between two characters, warok and gemblak. The main male dancer, or warok, must follow strict physical and spiritual rules and rituals. Under these rules, a warok was prohibited from engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman. But he was allowed to have intimate relationships with young boys’ characters, or gemblak, in the performance. Although warok and gemblak were engaged in same-sex acts, they did not identify themselves as homosexuals. In other Javanese traditional drama performances like ludruk and wayang orang, a man playing a woman's character or vice versa is not unusual.
In the Philippines, pre-colonial communities were religiously led by babaylan who were women healers and shamans responsible for mediating between the gods and people. These roles were also open to assigned male at birth individuals (asog, bayog) so long as they comported themselves like women. A 16th century Spanish manuscript described asog thus: “Ordinarily they dress as women, act like prudes, and are so effeminate that one does not know them would believe they are women... they marry other males and sleep with them as man and wife and have carnal knowledge.”
In adjoining Indochina, for example, in Vietnam, there are similar records kept by European priests of “men” who acted as spirit mediums and who wore “women’s clothing and completely pull out their beards.” Even today, the tradition of feminine, assigned male at birth mediums who channel feminine spirits lives on in Đạo Mẫu temples that worship the Mother Goddess belonging to an indigenous religion of the country.
Myanmar has a rich pre-Buddhist tradition of “nat kadaw,” literally translated as “wife of a spirit.” While there are historical records of outwardly masculine assigned male at birth nat kadaws, some of whom resisted the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War, today nat kadaws are known as assigned male at birth individuals who dress as women during the ceremonies and perform important blessings. They typically have sex with men, and some also identify as women outside of a ceremonial context.
The kathoey or ladyboys of Thailand are internationally renowned, contribute significantly to the Thai tourist economy and are well integrated into society.
Cross-dressing in Peranakan plays[]
In Peranakan or Baba culture, male-to-female cross-dressing was often indulged in for fun or for performances, especially stage plays as women were traditionally not allowed to take part. It enjoyed community support and was not frowned upon[9],[10],[11],[12],[13]. William Tan Wee Liam was a pioneer Peranakan actor, playwright, director and producer, well known for playing female roles during the 1950s and 60s. Vestiges of this tradition continue to this very day in the theatrical productions of the Gunong Sayang Association[14] and Peranakan Siblings (see main article: Singapore gay theatre).
- Watch a video of contemporary Peranakan cross-dressing actors commenting on their craft[15]):
National Service[]
National service was implemented in 1967, whereby all 18-year old males were required to train full-time for two or two-and-a-half years, depending on their educational attainment. Transgender was listed as a condition in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 'Directory of Diseases' and recruits who outed themselves to the examining doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Dempsey Road had their 'deployability' denied in sensitive positions. They were classified as snigger-attracting Category 302 personnel, downgraded to a Physical Employment Status of 3 (PES3) and assigned only clerical work at army bases. For more details on how transgender people are currently managed by the SAF, please see the following section under the main article Gay men in the Singapore Armed Forces:[16]
Early sex reassignment surgery[]
- Main article: Sex reassignment surgery in Singapore
As Singaporean gynaecological surgeons became more skillful, leaders in the field like Prof. S Shan Ratnam were authorised to perform male-to-female sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at Kandang Kerbau Hospital. He later trained other surgeons like Assoc. Prof. Arunachalam Ilancheran and Dr. C Ananda Kumar to undertake the procedure. The first such operation in Asia took place here in July 1971. However, before patients could go under the knife, they first had to subject themselves to an exhaustive battery of tests and be given a clean psychological bill of health by chief academic psychiatrist Prof. Tsoi Wing Foo.
Straits Times journalist Chua Meng Choo provided an exhaustive account of the first sex change surgery done in 1971 on patient who later agreed to have her name revealed to the public as Shonna[17]:
"The first sex change surgery in Singapore was successfully performed on 30 July 1971 at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital. The operation involved a 24-year-old man and was the first procedure of its kind performed in Singapore and in Asia. There had been previous “sex change” operations performed in Singapore, but these mostly involved patients who had both male and female genitalia (hermaphrodites) and the removal of one set of genitalia. The 1971 operation was regarded as a first because it involved a surgical conversion aimed at functionally changing a person’s sex.
Patient and diagnosis
The patient was a 24-year-old Singaporean citizen of Chinese heritage. Her name was kept secret, but her background was later made public in a book. The eldest son in a family of five with two younger sisters, her father was a dentist who was often physically violent with his wife, which caused the patient psychological trauma. As a child, the patient was raised by her grandmother, who dressed her as a female. In her teenage years, she associated with other cross-dressers before frequenting the transsexual and transvestite scene at Bugis Street as an adult.
From the age of 16, she worked as a sales assistant, a housemaid, in a bank and as a public relations officer. She later won second prize in a beauty contest and became a model. While working as a part-time model, she joined a cabaret and was known as “Mama Chan”. She also ran a social escort service.
Having lived as a woman for some time, she first consulted Professor S. S. Ratnam, a senior lecturer in the University of Singapore’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in 1969. She had been suffering sexual and emotional problems, which had led to two suicide attempts. Ratnam explained to her that he had no experience in sex change surgery, but she continued to visit his clinic weekly. After researching the subject of transsexualism and sex reassignment surgeries, Ratnam familiarised himself with the surgical techniques by practising on cadavers.
The patient underwent a psychological analysis by a team of psychiatrists who confirmed that she was a transsexual who required surgery. A diagnosis of transsexualism requires that the patient possesses a continuous sense of inappropriateness about his or her anatomic sex, a desire to discard his or her genitalia and live as a member of the opposite sex, and the absence of physical intersex symptoms or genetic abnormalities. As well, his or her gender confusion (gender dysphoria) must not be caused by other disorders such as schizophrenia. The patient was also cautioned that the surgery would be irreversible, potentially involved a number of complications and required a prolonged follow-up period.
Legal clearance for the operation was then sought from the Ministry of Health and granted. After consideration of the patient’s psychological profile, the medical expertise involved and the approval of the Ministry, the decision was taken to proceed with the operation.
Operation and impact
The operation was performed by Ratnam and two other surgeons from the University of Singapore’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Associate Professor Khew Khoon Shin and plastic surgeon R. Sundarason. Photography of the operation was not permitted. Ratnam later described the three-hour operation as a success, with an uneventful post-surgery recovery. He later founded the Gender Identity Clinic specialising in sex change surgeries at the National University Hospital.
After her successful operation, the patient went on hormone treatments and was functionally a woman, with the exception of being unable to conceive or menstruate. She later married a French man and owned a travel agency in Paris, before moving to England.
The July 1971 operation paved the way for sex change surgeries in Singapore and in the region. Singapore’s first sex change operation on a woman took place three years later, between August 1974 to October 1977 (female-to-male conversions are a more complex process and involve several surgical stages). In the 1970s and 1980s, hospitals in Singapore accepted numerous sex change patients from other Southeast Asian countries, with foreigners making up around half of all surgeries performed."
Documentary[]
In a groundbreaking and extremely graphic mondo documentary entitled "Shocking Asia" produced in 1974, transgender women in Singapore revealed the most intimate details about their lives and sex reassignment surgery done by pioneering surgeon, Prof. S Shan Ratnam who also granted an exclusive interview. The operation itself was shown in great detail[18]:
Ratnam is believed to have been unhappy with the final tenor and packaging of the documentary, which can be regarded as a mondo film, as he was probably led by the producers to believe that it would be a scientific, non-sensationalistic project.
Increasing visibility in mainstream media[]
The first substantial mention of Singapore's transgender community was a groundbreaking 4-part feature by the New Nation entitled, "They are different..." It was published on 4 consecutive days from Monday, 24 July to Thursday, 27 July 1972 (see main article Singapore's first newspaper articles on the LGBT community).
In the 1970s, two well known transsexual models were occasionally featured in Her World magazine. The first was Shonna, the first Singaporean to undergo a sex change operation in 1971 (see main article: Sex reassignment surgery in Singapore). Another was named Christine. Both emigrated out of Singapore several years later. Iconic transgender model Amy Tashiana was too overbooked with appointments to accept the projects.
Legal reform[]
National Registration Identity Cards[]
In the years following Singapore's first sex reassignment operations, a number of legal issues arose for transgender individuals who had undergone a sex change. In 1973, Singapore legalised sex reassignment surgery.
In a move which saw Singapore rise to be one of the world leaders in transgender rights, the Government instituted a policy directive at the National Registration Department to enable post-operative transgender people to change the legal gender stated on their national registration identity cards (NRIC) (but not their birth certificates) and other documents which flowed from that, such as their passports. It was hitherto unknown to the LGBT community and general public what prompted the highly conservative People's Action Party to do this.
It was not until 2012 that pioneering sex reassignment surgeon, Prof. S Shan Ratnam's protege, Assoc. Prof. Arunachalam Ilancheran, revealed during a television discussion forum on thirunangai (திருநங்கை), or Tamil transgender women that it was due to the efforts of Ratnam who lobbied the Government quietly behind the scenes to achieve this groundbreaking right for his patients on compassionate grounds[19]:
Lobbying to allow post-op transgenders to change particulars on ICs and passports[]
- Main article: Archive of "'Help sex-change patients to a normal life' plea", The Straits Times, 25 November 1973
On 25 November 1973, Prof. Ratnam made a speech during the International Y's Men's Club lunch meeting at Hotel Equatorial imploring the Government to allow post-operative transgender Singaporeans to change the particulars on their personal documents so that they could have a better chance of leading normal lives.
A policy directive was subsequently instituted at the National Registration Department (located first at Empress Place and later at Colombo Court) to enable them to change the legal gender stated on their national registration identity cards (NRIC) (but not their birth certificates) and other documents which flowed from that, such as their passports. He also advocated that post-operative transsexuals be given the legal right to marry an opposite-sex spouse.
To change one's name and gender stated on one's identity card, one requires:
- a deed poll
- passport-sized photos
- a letter of certification of sex reassignment surgery (SRS)
The deed poll is a legal document which must be prepared by a lawyer. The cost ranges from SGD$60 to $100. There are many lawyers who will do this and a popular site which lists them is www.deedpoll.sg. Other lawyers may provide higher or lower rates so if one is really strapped for cash, one can consider cheaper options.
After obtaining the deed poll, one must go down to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building currently located next to Lavender MRT station. There, one must go to the NRIC (Identity card) level and approach the counter. One must tell the staff that one is there to change one's name. After queueing up, the new identity card should be ready within the hour.
There are stiff penalties in Singapore for providing false information on the NRIC. So if one is unfortunate enough to receive a new card with incorrect information on it, the onus is on oneself to point out the mistake. Of course, one can also accept the mistake at one's own risk. One may regard it as fortuitous to have one's sex changed on one's IC without the SRS letter of certification.
Marriage certificates[]
- See also: Lim Ying v Hiok Kian Ming Eric
The Registry of Marriages implicitly recognised marriages involving a sex change patient, as it required only an identity card to prove the different genders of the couple. There was no specific provision in the statutes which allowed the Registrar to do this, so it existed probably only at the level of a policy directive, just like the one at the National Registration Department which allowed post-operative transsexuals to change the gender stated on their ICs. However, for almost 20 years, this process seemed to have operated smoothly.
However, on 13 June 1991, a female Malaysian babysitter named Lim Ying, then aged 30, created legal history when her application to the High Court to have her marriage annulled succeeded. Lim claimed that she did not know her husband had undergone a sex-change operation. Judicial commissioner K S Rajah declared her marriage to Eric Hiok Kian Ming null and void. Lim discovered her husband's secret, that he was assigned female at birth, only on their wedding night when they attempted to have sex. Hiok, who appeared very masculine, disagreed, arguing that Lim knew beforehand that he was a transman. They could not have penetrative sexual intercourse because he had not been fitted with a penile implant. Judicial commissioner Rajah ruled that a person's sex was fixed at birth in the eyes of the law. The legal poser that the High Court had to tackle was whether the marriage was void right from the start, or whether it was just voidable. Rajah's judgment declared that the marriage was void from the very beginning.
It was only in 1996 that the Government amended the Women’s Charter to allow transsexuals to legally marry (see below).
First transgender character in a local TV production[]
In 1991, a Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) Channel 8 Mandarin fantasy period TV serial entitled "最后一个大侠" (literally "The last knight") featured a man named Sima Qinyun who could transform his gender to become an evil villain named 紫罗刹 (the purple killer) and also revert back at will (see YouTube video of theme song[20]). This was groundbreaking, even though the storyline is thought to have been adapted from a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha), and even pre-dated the well known Dongfang Bubai (东方不败) played by Lin Qingxia in the eponymous hit Taiwanese film.
Legalisation of transgender marriage[]
Since the mid-1970s, post-operative transsexuals, aided by Prof. S Shan Ratnam, had been discreetly lobbying to be given the right to get married to opposite-sex spouses. In 1996, a Bill was presented before Parliament to amend the Women's Charter to read[21],[22]:
(Under Part III: SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES)[23]
Avoidance of marriages between persons of same sex.[24]
12.-(1) A marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between persons who, at the date of the marriage, are not respectively male and female shall be void. [30/96]
(2) It is hereby declared that, subject to sections 5, 9, 10, 11 and 22, a marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure and any person of the opposite sex is and shall be deemed always to have been a valid marriage.
(3) For the purpose of this section
- (a) the sex of any party to a marriage as stated at the time of the marriage in his or her identity card issued under the National Registration Act (Cap. 201) shall be prima facie evidence of the sex of the party; and
- (b) a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure shall be identified as being of the sex to which the person has been re-assigned. [30/96]
(4) Nothing in subsection (2) shall validate any such marriage which had been declared by the High Court before 1st May 1997 to be null and void on the ground that the parties were of the same sex.
Minister for Community Development, Abdullah Tarmugi, who moved the bill argued that since 1973, the Government's intention was for people who had changed gender/sex to live a life according to their new gender, including the right to marry. Through an oversight, the law relating to marriage had not been re-aligned with the official policy to recognise sex reassignment surgery. Now that the courts had illuminated this inconsistency after a landmark case in which a wife sought and won the annulment of her marriage to a transman (Lim Ying v Hiok Kian Ming Eric), it was necessary to amend the Women's Charter to ensure that the original intention was not undermined. Transgender people were officially granted their wish on 24 January 1996. On 2 May 1996, during the debate following the second reading of the amendment Bill, Abdullah Tarmugi made the following announcement in Parliament which did not give rise to much public fanfare or opposition[25]. He said:
"The Government's stand is very clear: it is not a move to encourage or promote lesbianism, homosexuality, transvestism or sex reassignment among our people. We do not believe the amendments will result in our people reassigning their sex in droves. The Bill basically seeks a practical and humane approach to address the problems faced by this group of people and the families they have set up. It is to allow these individuals to lead a life according to their new status, as recorded in their identity cards, as we have all along used the NRIC to verify identity. It is practical. It is sensible."
Gender Identity Clinic[]
The Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) and Gender Reassignment Surgery Clinic were set up at the National University Hospital in the early 1990s, two decades after Singapore's first sex change operation was done at Kandang Kerbau Hospital in 1971 by pioneering O&G surgeon and head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University of Singapore, Prof. S Shan Ratnam. The GIC was headed by Ratnam himself until his retirement in 1995, after which leadership passed to his nephew and protege, Dr. C Anandakumar. Owing to the existence of these clinics and the skills of their staff, Singapore was one of the world leaders in gender-affirming surgery for 30 years, performing more than 500 such operations. This gave a new lease of life to many transgender individuals whose bodies did not match their gender identity.
Closure and reopening[]
In the early 2000s, the National University Hospital's Gender Identity Clinic (GIC), the offshoot of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kandang Kerbau Hospital formed a decade ago, was the only facility for sex change operations in Singapore. Although it helped to build Singapore's reputation as a top destination for sex reassignment surgery over the past 30 thirty years[26], its exact location within NUH and the services it provided were kept confidential because of the sensitivity of the more vocal religious fundamentalist segments of Singapore's population to sex reassignment surgery. Since 1971, when the late Prof. S Shan Ratnam performed Singapore's first sex change operation, there had been 500 such procedures, an average of 17 a year. But the GIC had done no male-to-female operations since 2001. Since September 2001, it had performed only four female-to-male operations.
This was because the Ministry of Health had asked hospitals to phase out sex-change surgery in the late 1980s for fear that hospital staff might be exposed to HIV. It was also reported then that the Ministry had not considered sex-change surgery as a life-saving procedure. These objections were lifted in 2001.
The general public could not find any information on the GIC on NUH's website and it was extremely difficult to interview its then consultant, Dr. Arunachalam Ilancheran. Dr. C Anandakumar, who was the specialist-in-charge at the GIC from 1995 to 2001, recounted how, during his time, consultations with transgender patients could only be done on Saturdays and after office hours, as NUH had very little interest in encouraging sex reassignment surgery. Transsexuals would also need to book themselves into single-bed wards after the operation as Dr. Anandakumar claimed "the hospital did not want the transsexuals to mix with other patients". This would push up the cost of the operation, prompting many transsexuals to head to Bangkok for more affordable treatment. However, he conceded that the situation may have changed and added that the clinic had served its purpose well.
In reply to queries from The New Paper, an NUH spokesman said, "All our patients are important to us and we care for them with respect and sensitivity due to any individual. The Gender Identity Clinic operates at the usual hours, as per all other hospital clinics. Patients stay in single room as per MOH regulation since the seventies."
Transwoman Leona Lo completed her psychiatric assessment in Singapore but elected to have her surgery performed in Bangkok. She felt that the lack of information about the GIC deterred transsexuals like herself from having the operation done here. She said, "Many of us can't be bothered to find out more about the GIC as it's so secretive about its services. It signals the clinic is not interested in helping and is ashamed of us. There's always the Bangkok and the surgeons there have done so many operations. The more operations they perform, the better they get. So we're happy to go there." But not all transgender patients were flocking to Thailand. Transwomen were still seeking help from the GIC.
In April 2001, the Gender Identity Clinic at the National University Hospital, which was the last hospital in Singapore where sex change operations were performed, closed without any fanfare. The official explanation was that the gynaecologist in charge, Dr. C Anandakumar, had left for private practice, and without him, the clinic did not have the skills to perform SRS. However, as early as 1987, the Ministry of Health had been directing hospitals to stop doing such operations on foreigners. It also discouraged them for Singaporeans, saying, "the increased danger of AIDS with such patients poses unnecessary risk to hospital staff". However, some believe that the increasing number of Christian doctors filling the administrative ranks of Singapore hospitals over the past decades had a part to play in its shutting down as cross-dressing and sex reassignment are proscribed in the Bible.
This dismayed transgender people seeking to have their operations performed locally. The online edition of the now-defunct newspaper Project Eyeball carried out a survey in June 2001 asking, "Should sex change operations be resumed in Singapore?" 39% of respondents said, "Yes, they are people with valid medical needs, like infertile couples" and 35% said, "Why not? It is legal here, as are transsexual marriages". The results showed that Singaporeans were generally quite supportive.
In June 2001, a petition organised by transman activist Jael[27], the founder of the transgender group "FTMs in Asia", urging the re-opening of the Gender Identity Clinic garnered 60 signatures[28]. When asked by The New Paper about the GIC's services, an NUH spokesman replied: 'The NUH Gender Identity Clinic reopened in September 2001 to provide a service to those who request it."
The transgender community's petition was successful, with the clinic discreetly and fully resuming it services in 2003, helmed by Dr. Arunachalam Ilancheran. However, owing to the discrimination against transgender people in Singapore even within some segments of the medical community, the high financial outlay involved and the necessity for psychological clearance, many preferred to have their operations performed sans the hassles in Bangkok, which had by then become the premiere centre for sex reassignment surgery (SRS).
In early August 2001, Singapore's pioneer sex reassignment surgeon and co-author of the book "Cries from within", Prof. S Shan Ratnam, passed away from pneumonia[29]. His death prompted his nephew, Dr. C Anandakumar to relinquish leadership of the GIC to Assoc. Prof. Arunachalam Ilancheran and to leave for private practice. Anandakumar subsequently to head SSR International Private Limited at Camden Medical Centre, an O&G centre of excellence named after his late uncle.
Final closure[]
The Gender Identity Clinic at the National University Hospital drew its shutters for good in 2008. When asked by The Straits Times in 2014 about the Ministry of Health's stance on sex-change surgery, its role in overseeing the procedure, and why public hospitals had stopped offering it, an MOH spokesman would only say that "sex reassignment operations are not subsidised and are performed with...safeguards".
Demand, however, had not shrunk, according to private psychiatrist Prof Tsoi Wing Foo. Since 1971, Tsoi had seen over 2,000 transgender patients, half of whom went for surgery. A psychological assessment is needed before sex reassignment surgery can be carried out on a patient in Singapore. During the 1970s and 1980s, he had roughly 30 cases a year. From 2007 to 2014, he had seen an average of 40. He did not know why surgery options here were dwindling, but speculated that it could be due to public policy changes or the personal preferences of the few doctors who had undertaken such surgery. Dr C Anandakumar, who was the gynaecologist in charge of the GIC until 2001, declined to speak to press when queried.
Despite the fact that many male-to-female transgender patients were flocking to Thailand for their surgeries because of the lower cost and less stringent psychological requirements, female-to-male transsexuals were still seeking help from the GIC. Such operations are more complex and cost SGD$15,000 or more here. But psychiatrist Prof Tsoi Wing Foo believed that many female transsexuals would head to Bangkok as well once the operation was available there.
Beautiful Boxer[]
- See also: Singapore LGBT films
In November 2001, Singapore-based Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham announced his intention to produce a film entitled "Beautiful Boxer" on the life of Thai male-to-female transsexual kickboxer, Parinya Charoenphol[30].
Evidence of British sailors' visits to Bugis Street in the 1960s[]
- See also: Bugis Street: transgender aspects
In November 2002, newly declassified UK naval documents revealed that possibly 50% of its servicemen had indulged in homosexual sex at some time in their naval service life and many had visited brothels in Singapore's then legendary Bugis Street in the 1960s as soon as their ship docked. A document written by the navy's medical director general in 1969, described Singapore's transwoman prostitutes as "very beautiful" and who "dress well and smell delicious" He added, "They perfect the female walk, stance and mannerisms and some even undergo surgery to complete the illusion"[31].
First pictorial documentary on transwomen[]
In April 2003, Select Books released Singapore's first pictorial documentary on transsexuals in Singapore and Thailand entitled, "My Sisters, their Stories", written by male-to-female transsexual, Leona Lo[32],[33].
First TV programme featuring local transwoman[]
On Friday, 7 January 2005 at 8:30pm Channel U broadcast Singapore's first television programme to feature a local transwoman entitled "Sense of Being". It interviewed 38-year old post-operative Malay male-to-female transsexual Amy Tashiana[34]. Tashiana talked about her life as a former model with Carrie Models and performer at the defunct cabaret club Boom Boom Room.
Joint report on transgender issues for UPR 2021[]
In October 2020, TransgenderSG, in collaboration with Sayoni and APTN (Asia-Pacific Transgender Network), submitted the first joint civil society report from Singapore to focus exclusively on transgender issues.[35]. This was for the purpose of Singapore's third Universal Periodic Review scheduled for May 2021 at the United Nations. The report referenced data from the first nationwide survey of Singapore’s transgender community, conducted by TransgenderSG, and a research study done by Sayoni, and addressed the following key areas of concern:
- The difficult process of legal gender recognition (LGR), including the prohibitive cost of required genital surgeries that can go up to SGD$150,000 for transgender men; such surgeries being unavailable in Singapore; requiring an invasive genital examination for surgical confirmation; the significant medical risks of surgery; the lack of Medisave or insurance coverage; and the violation of bodily autonomy in pressuring transgender Singaporeans to undergo major surgeries they may not want, need or be able to afford at the time. Transgender persons with incongruent legal gender documentation face heightened vulnerability to harassment, discrimination and violence. Lack of LGR is associated with negative mental health outcomes. Only 9.7% of surveyed transgender Singaporeans had managed to change their legal sex, including 53.8% of those who had transitioned more than 10 years ago.
- Discrimination, abuse, and restrictions facing transgender students. 77.6% of openly transgender students in TransgenderSG’s survey reported negative experiences in school ranging from bullying to sexual abuse. Less than a third agreed or strongly agreed that they felt safe at school, and only 24% said they had a staff member they could go to for support. School administrators had implemented unreasonable demands that pressured even high-performing transgender students to drop out of school, or sought to prevent them from transitioning or pursuing HRT, sometimes by contacting their healthcare providers without the student’s or their parents’ knowledge or consent.
- Discrimination against transgender persons in the employment sector. A joint research study by APTN and Curtin University found that transgender job candidates in Singapore faced the worst discrimination compared to Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. TransgenderSG’s survey revealed an unemployment rate of 23.5% among transgender people not presently studying, including 14.3% of university graduates. The overall unemployment rate in Singapore was 2.9% over the same period. This affected transgender persons’ abilities not just to provide for themselves but to financially support their parents and other family. It was also a mismanagement of resources for a segment of highly educated Singaporeans to be persistently unemployed or underemployed.
- Discrimination and harassment in healthcare settings that discouraged transgender persons from seeking necessary general healthcare, particularly in areas of sexual and reproductive health; and limited access to transgender healthcare, including restrictions for those under 21 that have driven transgender youths to dangerous and unregulated avenues to obtain the hormones and surgeries necessary for their well-being.
- Access to marriage, decent housing and shelter. Transgender Singaporeans who have transitioned but are unable to change their legal sex end up in a legal limbo where they are unable to marry anyone of any sex. This and restrictions against same-sex marriage lock the majority of trans people out of public HDB housing before the age of 35, and force many in abusive home environments to either tolerate domestic violence or become homeless due to a lack of alternative housing options. To date, only one homeless shelter openly accepts transgender residents.
- Violence against transgender or gender non-conforming adults, youths and children including physical, emotional and sexual violence from family members, the public or officials; immunity for actors promoting and practising “conversion therapies” known to lead to lasting psychological harm; and barriers to reporting and gaps in service provision for victims of such violence to seek relief or redress.
The submission also proposed key legislative, policy, and programmatic actions to ensure that the human rights, safety and dignity of transgender people in Singapore were upheld by both State and non-State actors.
Drag queen music video during Pink Dot 2021[]
A slick and sophisticated music video of some of Singapore's best drag queens was featured during the live stream of Pink Dot 2021, officially called Pink Dot 13, which took place on Saturday, 12 June 2021[36].
Credits[]
- Director: CHOĀNN
- DOP: Kelvin Chew
- Producer: Maryann Chan
- Art Director: Karen Thien
- Editor: Meghan Dwyer
- VFX Supervisor: Cody Amos
- Executive Producer (Production): Martin Hong
- Executive Producer (Post): Charu Menon
- Drag Queens: El Nina, Opera Tang, Salome Blaque, Sapphire Blast, Vyla Virus, Becca D’Bus, Femme Fatale, Vanda Miss Joaquim, Ambika Raichand
- Dancers: Syazwan Rahmad, Haiky Zulkifli
- Kopitiam Man: Ryan Yong Thanakan
- 1st AD: Brenda Ong
- 2nd AD: Chew Ying Xuan
- Gaffer: Fuad Huat
- Key Grip: Ghufran Jasni
- 1st CA: Leslie Tan
- 2nd CA: Rahul Radhakrishnan
- Data Wrangler: Imran Shafie
- Grips: Afiq Aris John De Souza Lee Shao Ming Aylwin Ho Clarence Chow
- Assistant Art Director: Joanna Teo
- Art Assistant: Lynette Tan
- Production: Abundant Productions
- Post-Production: Heckler Singapore
- Post Producer: Charu Menon
- CG Artists: Ruiting Wang, Cody Amos
- Colourist: Billy Wychgel
- Compositing: Azreena Ahmad, Keith Seah, Abi Santos
- IO: Johnson Lim
- Online: Meghan Dwyer
- Production Assistants: Dominic Ng Giang Nguyen
- Graphic Designer: Warren Tey
- Title Sequence: Jawn Chan
- Wardrobe for Supporting Talents: Josiah Chua
- Make-up for Supporting Talents: Marie Soh
- Assistant Producers: Debbie Wu Yana Gagarin
- BTS Photographer: Yana Gagarin
- Sound Design: Fuse Adventures In Audio
- Music: Diana Boss - “Give Me Life” feat. Quanah Style
- Remixed by: Vanda Miss Joaquim
- Special Thanks: Wild Rice, Ben Siow, @3 Cafe, Yarshini Sivanathan, Xinmin Ng, Boo Junfeng
Samsung Singapore's video of Muslim mother's support for drag queen son[]
On 22 November 2021, Samsung Singapore uploaded the following video to its YouTube channel[37]:
Married transgender beauty queen Qatrisha Zairyah among finalists in Miss Universe Singapore 2024[]
On Wednesday, 28 August 2024, married transwoman Qatrisha Zairyah was unveiled as one of the top 15 finalists for Miss Singapore Universe 2024. It was the first year the pageant was embracing diversity. Though the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) had allowed transgender contestants who were legally female to participate since 2012, this was the first time in the local pageant’s 70-year history that a trans woman had made it as a finalist. However, it was not Qatrisha's first foray into the world of pageants. She was the first runner-up at the Miss International Queen 2023 held in Pattaya, Thailand. The 33-year-old fashion adviser also took part in two pageants for transgender women in 2023 – Miss Trans Star International in Barcelona and Miss Equity World in Bali.
The 1.8m-tall beauty shared that her journey was not an easy one for her and her family. “It took some time for them to actually accept me ‘cos we are Muslim," she said. "But my mum now understands me. And my dad, when he visited me at my workplace and [understood that I'm] not doing anything illegal, slowly, they were able to accept me," she added. Qatrisha also shared that in Singapore, post-op transgender women were able to legally change their gender to female. Undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2017, it allowed Qatrisha to marry her 32-year-old Singaporean husband, who worked as a non-destructive testing inspector, and apply for a HDB flat. Married for seven years now, the couple first met when she was 20 and serving her National Service.
Despite her previous experience with pageants, there was still a lot riding for the Qatrisha. Should she take the crown on coronation night, she would become the first trans woman from Asia to compete at a Miss Universe pageant. Miss Universe 2023 featured two transwomen for the first time – Miss Portugal Marina Machete and Miss Netherlands Rikkie Kolle. In July 2024, MUS also announced that the competition would be open to Singapore citizens who were married, divorced, and had children. There was also no upper age limit though applicants need to be at least 18 years old. Though details for the finals were yet to be revealed, the 73rd Miss Universe pageant was set to happen on 16 November 2024, at the Arena CDMX in Mexico.
See also[]
- Transgender people in Singapore
- Discrimination against transgender people in Singapore
- Singapore gay history
External links and references[]
- Yawning Bread's account of Singapore's transgender and sex-change history:[38]
- Transgender Asia
- SgButterfly - Singapore Transgender Community Portal
- Tiffany Gwee, 'Danielle’s story: The Life of a Transsexual in Singapore', The Online Citizen, 3 February 2014[39].
- 'SG Transgender Sex workers represented in ICAAP', The Online Citizen, 26 November 2013[40].
- Ms Chor Lor.com, blog of a Singapore transgender[41].
- "In transit: the invisible lives of Singapore's transgenders", article in "Coconuts Singapore" blog, 23 January 2015[42].
- https://swanprojectsg.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/a-singaporean-history-for-transgender-people/
- https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/living-gender-dysphoria-transgender-youths-face-stigma-and-inadequate-institutional-support
- https://www.congregaytion.com/ill-walk-with-you/?fbclid=IwAR1aj5o-Psjxm0Yr9YyaOKdYA-EnpXLPl0D31XT52_tr3xFuBKqwnRgOhNY
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/24865819
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/kzmpyy/some-asian-governments-claim-lgbtq-culture-is-a-western-invention-heres-why-thats-garbage
- https://www.todayonline.com/8days/singaporean-transgender-woman-1st-runner-worlds-largest-transgender-pageant-miss-international-queen-2203356
- Liew Kai Khiun, "Old “cowboy towns”: enduring democratic enclaves as Singapore’s alternative digital histories, 1994–2011", Digital Technology, Culture and Society, Internet Histories, Taylor & Francis Online:[43].
- https://www.femalemag.com.sg/gallery/culture/pinky-kiki-ball-2024-vogue-in-progress-riot-drag-show/
- https://www.straitstimes.com/life/miss-universe-singapore-2024-embraces-unprecedented-diversity-with-slate-of-finalists
- https://www.facebook.com/reel/505452298739417
- https://www.todayonline.com/8days/married-transgender-beauty-queen-among-finalists-miss-universe-singapore-2024-2480586
- https://mustsharenews.com/miss-universe-transgender/
Acknowlegdements[]
This article was written by Roy Tan.