Malaysia representative to AICHR, Tan Sri muhammad Shafee Abdullah speaking at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Teaching Centre in Kuala Lumpur. — Picture by Yusof Mat IsaKUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Prominent lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah last night denied accusations that he is opposed to the queer community, claiming that some of his closest colleagues and relatives are gays.
Defending his role as the lawyer for Negri Sembilan in the appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling against an anti-crossdressing state Shariah law, Shafee said he took up the case only because he was worried that one day, women might want to lead men in prayers.
“If you think that I am anti-gay or anti-homosexual, you’re dead wrong. Because three of my favourite relatives are gay,” Shafee said in a dialogue session with fellow representatives of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.
“About 40 to 60 per cent of people I dabble with, I engage with in theatre, through my wife’s work … are gays. And these are colleagues of mine,” he added.
Shafee’s wife, Sabera Shaik, is an accomplished theatre actor and director.
Shafee also sits on Indian classical dance body Sutra Foundation’s board of directors, and has produced several theatre and dance shows.
The Court of Appeal had in November last year ruled in favour of three Muslim transgenders who were convicted of cross-dressing under the Shariah enactment that punishes Muslim men who wear women’s attire with a fine not exceeding RM1,000, or jail of not more than six months, or both.
The appellate court also rules Section 66 of the enactment as unconstitutional and void, noting that the provision contravened fundamental liberties, including personal liberty, equality, freedom of movement and freedom of expression.
The three-judge panel of Malaysia’s second-highest court led by Justice Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Yunus and comprising Datuk Aziah Ali and Datuk Lim Yee Lan had also said the law was discriminatory as it failed to recognise men diagnosed with gender identity disorder.
In January, Negri Sembilan was allowed to appeal the case in the Federal Court, with Shafee representing the applicants, which also included the state’s Islamic Religious Affairs Department, its director, its chief enforcer, and the state’s chief Shariah prosecutor.
“The impact of the judgment is this … If that is the interpretation, vis-a-vis the Constitution, the danger would be this, that a Muslim woman can come to the court and say ‘why should we allow only men as the imam as a mosque?’” asked Shafee.
Traditional Islamic practices require that a female imam can only lead other women in prayers, while a male imam can lead a mixed-gender congregations.
Despite that, there has been a growing movement worldwide to reinterpret allegedly patriarchal Islamic teachings, with American progressive Islamic scholar Amina Wadud leading a mixed-gender congregation starting from 2005.
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