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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-WomenThinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim
Womenʼs Rights Activism and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women
Habiba-Mao, UEDA
1 Introduction
Within the context of Malaysia, social issues affecting Muslim women
including Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women1 (here after, ʻWWLWʼ) andother sexual-and-gender-marginalized communities have continued to becomplicated through the politicization and implementations of Islamic
morals and laws. Understanding these barriers contextualized theimportance of Muslim women ʼ s solidarity and considering how toincorporate Islamic values and morals when addressing Muslim womenʼssocial issues. The broad purpose of this research was to provide atheoretical foundation for understanding the situations of sexual-andgender-marginalized groups in Malaysia and to bring attention to themultilayered intersections of female sexuality, religious norms and social
values in the context of Malaysia. More specifically, the research exploredthe situations of Muslim women and WWLW in Malaysia throughexamining the perspectives of individuals who were aware of and/or
involved in activism related to social issues in general affecting Malay
Muslim women.
This research looked at the challenges that womenʼs rights groups andsexuality rights activists have been faced with when engaging their workwithin religious Islamic paradigms. More specifically through theperspectives and ideologies of Sisters in Islam (SIS), the only organizationin Malaysia that had developed an agenda of social justice and basic
human rights for Muslim women and collaborated with other groups toaddress sexual diversity issues, this research attempted to understand thesituations of why Muslim women including WWLW have faced continued
obstacles while trying to gain acceptance in society. Thus, this research

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focused on gaining insight into the challenges of not only being a woman
in a strongly patriarchal religious, specifically Islamic, society but also theadded complexities of being a WWLW in a heteronormative society.
1.1 About This Research
The central research questions of this study were framed in a way to gain
more insider knowledge and perspectives within the Muslim womenʼsactivism community in Malaysia. The questions were also designed in a
way to highlight issues around what it means to be a Muslim woman in
Malaysia, and how the current Muslim womenʼs rights movement has been
informed and impacted by growing Islamization. Moreover, what thismeant ultimately for not just Muslim women in general, but Muslim WWLWin Malaysia.
This research qualitatively explored the perspectives of 14 participants
through in-depth semi-structured interviews and observations over a
2-month period between June and July 2013. Gaining emic perspectives
through such interviews allowed insider access to the target communities
and to understand social issues from those who experienced themfirsthand. Initially, target groups of informants were those who were either
involved with SIS at the time of the interviews or had been involved in thepast. However, in order to gain a richer understanding of specificcommunity issues, the target groups were later expanded to include othersexuality rights activists who were active in a range of diverse support
groups for sexual-and-gender-marginalized communities in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Given the sensitive nature of the research topic and the difficulty in
identifying participants through a more typical recruitment process, aconvenience sample of 9 informants was recruited through snowball
sampling (Biernacki & Waldorf, 1981). Through my own networking
between 2011 and 2013, I came to know 7 of the 14 informants on a

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

personal level. Through building such relationships, my own personal
perspectives came to be strongly informed by the social and culturalsituations of these community members.
Each participant signed consent and confidentiality agreement forms
before their interviews. They were informed that any information disclosed
during the interviews would be protected and that pseudonyms would be
used to ensure privacy. All participants received their own copy of theconfidentiality agreement forms.
1.2 What Does It Mean to be Malay?
The Malay population is the largest within Malaysia; what it means to “beMalaysian” depends not only on ethnicity and culture, but also religious (i.e.
Islamic) beliefs and practices. It is important to note that religion, including
Islam, is an identity marker in Malaysia. The Malaysian Federal Constitution
defines a Malay person to be one who speaks the Malay language,
conforms to Malay customs, and professes to the religion of Islam. Thus,
there are definitive relations between the ethnic category of Malay andreligious category of Islam. Lee elaborated this point as “when a nonMuslim embraced Islam, that he or she had become Malay rather thanhaving become Muslim” (2011:98). Even though Malays comprises slightly
more than half of the total population, 2 Malay ethnic groups havecontinued to dominate in Malaysiaʼs political arena since Malaysia gained
independence from Britain in 1957 (Lee, 2011). It gradually gained morepolitical power with the process of Islamization. Timur described thecurrent tendency of Malaysia as “what we have in Malaysia is actually aprocess of forced nationalization, a rigid monolithic monoculture
nationalism. And religion is one of its most powerful weapons ” ( “ AMalaysian Inquisition?”, 2014). The next section will further discuss how
both of the modernization process and Islamization process have impacted
the situations of Muslim women in Malaysia.

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2 Islamization and Political Context of Malaysia
From all the interviews that were conducted, there was a very strong
theme related to the politicization of Islam. Everybody spoke strongly on
how Muslim women have continued to face increased discriminatory
attitudes and other social barriers under Islamic legislations. According toSarah, since the 1980s, the Malaysian government began to implement
more Islamic morals into their legislatures to build a more modern Islamic
country and as a result, “... slowly Islamization became very very strong andas ... in fact, Syariah law is much more than Civil law”. Such sentiments werealso echoed through other informants that people ʼ s attitudes andbehaviors had changed especially after the Islamic resurgence emerged in
Malaysia in the late 1970s. Jannah, very much like Sarah could feel that
Malaysia was progressively becoming more and more conservative andextreme in its religious interpretations compared to previous years due tothe politicization of Islam:... When you look at the trend and change on the Muslim behavior
today, as compared to the 70s or early 80s ... the concern is that the
Muslim society in Malaysia today, majority ... is more, more and moreconservative, and ... extreme in their understanding of Islam ascompared to the 60s, 70s and early 80s. And we blame it so much on
the politicization of Islam. Because then you know it involves power
struggle. And wanting to appear as the upholder of Islam. And who
becomes the victims would be those in the lower class society, lower
middle class women, children, and sexual minority groups. (Jannah)
According to Jannah, as Islam became more politicized within thecontext of Malaysia, such strategies were implemented with the goal of
making Malaysian society more modernized, while strongly upholding
Islam. As a result, as religious authorities had steadily gained more control

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

over past decades, it was clear to Jannah that such conservative
perspectives had contributed to a culture of restricting and denying
womenʼs rights access to equal rights, as well as allowing discrimination ona systematic basis against women and other sexual-and-gendermarginalized groups.
Rayhana also shared in her interview that as Malaysian society had
become more racially segregated, religious mores were strategicallyutilized to gain more power to control the Malay Muslim community.
Throughout her interview, Rayhana spoke of the generally limited
knowledge of Islamic interpretations amongst Malay Muslims and the
spread of the notions of Islamization in Malaysia. According to Rayhana,
the Islamization process had deepened racial boundaries between Malay
and non-Malay, and created more intolerance and hostile attitude towards
differences among Malaysians. Thus, anything that did not reflect
mainstream Islamic morals was deemed as wrong. In some cases, as
Rayhana indicated, such actions were even labeled as “attacks” on thesereligious morals even though people “ ... used to be quite tolerant, but I
think increasingly with this Islamization ... becoming more intolerant
against diﬀerences. Yeah, so whatever they see or deem as ʻdiﬀerentʼ fromthe mainstream, I think now a bit more ... hostile in certain degrees”.
This change towards more extremist interpretations clearly changed
peopleʼs attitudes and behaviors over the last few decades. According toboth Jannah and Sarah, this was especially after the Islamic resurgence
which emerged in Malaysia in the late 1970s. Both participants, as well asothers indicated clearly that this cultural shift in attitudes towards Islam
had direct consequences on Muslim women and their community.
2.2 How Islamization and Moral Policing have Impacted Muslim
Women and Muslim WWLW
The issues surrounding Islamization have had direct eﬀects on all Muslim

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communities in Malaysia, but especially for women and those living nonheteronormative lifestyles. The legal regulations for Muslims living in
Malaysia are considered to be more complicated than those for nonMuslims. This is because Syariah laws are the primary body of control at thestate level, except with respect to the Federal Territories. In particular, thesocio-political and legal climates are hostile to sexual-and-gendermarginalized individuals. Such hostile environments had gradually built up
since the early 1990s during the Mahathir administration (1981-2003),
especially when the criminalization of non-normative sexual acts under
Syariah Criminal Offences Acts (SCOAs) were slowly introduced andimplemented across all states.3
The provisions under SCOA contained ʻ personal sins ʼ which wheninterpreted under traditional jurisprudence were considered as “crimes
against the state” and “morally dangerous to society.” Jamilah indicated in
her interview that SIS identified 50 percent of their cases under SCOAs as
issues related to ʻ moral policing ʼ . Moral policing has had directconsequences for Muslim women in terms of how they were expected toconform to certain “norms” and “standards” that were directed by religious
morals. In terms of such “norms,” Rayhana shared her slight frustration withmaking sense of how one would begin to define what is appropriate or not
for women:
So how, you know a lot of women wear pants, wear shirts, so how do
you define the way they are? How? You know, even mothersometime like wear, you know so it really just ends up harassing you
all the time. (Rayhana)
Rayhana pointed out because even mothers wear pants and shirts, i.e.
clothing that could be perceived as “un-feminine ” according to moral
policing standards, it would be extremely difficult to set a general norm

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

through which all women presented themselves in the same “feminine”
way. Instead women would end up receiving more criticisms about theirappearance, even when simply wearing shirts and pants. Sheena echoedsimilar sentiments to Rayhana by questioning how acceptable “norms” forwomen should be defined to begin with.
[Religious authorities] are just trying to target [girls and women]
who dress like boys. They are all girls, all women, regardless of theirsexuality, to dress like stereotypical women do, or what is, you know,
the accepted gender norm for women in terms of dress code, right?
(Sheena)
The idealization of how Muslim women should dress and behave wasthus manifested through the religious authorities ʼ attempt to control
women ʼ s bodies through stigmatizing gender non-conforming selfexpressions. The implications would aﬀect all Muslim women and how they
were expected to conform to heteronormative standards.
An extreme example of moral policing and how it has aﬀected Muslim
women came in 2008, when a fatwa4 against tomboyism was issued to
selectively target and prosecute Muslim women that were considered “notfeminine enough” in their appearance (“Fatwa on tomboys”, 2008). The
Director General of the National Fatwa Council, Datuk Wan Mohamad
Shiekh Abd Aziz clearly stated that the fatwa aimed to “save these women(from becoming lesbians) ” ( “ Malaysia ʼ s fatwa council explains howʻtomboysʼ become lesbians”, 2008), as ʻbeing lesbianʼ could allegedly leadto greater “crimes” such as “indulgence in lesbian sex” (“Malaysian religious
council issues ban on lesbian sex”, 2008). It should be noted that although
this fatwa did not end up becoming an actual force of the law, it became
clear that the fatwa was not just about “lesbian sex”, or “women becoming
lesbians” but also had the implicit message of defining what is “acceptable”

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for women under the guise of “protecting” religious morals.
Moreover, because the type of awareness created by the media and thegovernment was consistently one-sided and negatively biased, it
contributed further to a growing culture that remained unaware of thecomplexities of Muslim women and WWLWʼs sexuality issues within thecurrent social paradigm. The next section will talk about development of
Muslim women ʼ s rights activism and discuss how Islamic feminist
perspectives have impacted the issues concerning sexual-and-gendermarginalized communities in Malaysia.
3 Islamic Feminism in the Context of Malaysia: Sisters in Islam
Although “feminism” is not a term usually associated within religious
discourses, many can argue that SIS is in fact an organization that takes an
Islamic feminist approach. Islamic feminists have articulated Muslim
womenʼs issues within an Islamic paradigm. Such approaches were basedon progressive interpretations of the Qur ʼ an which raised awarenessamong women seeking to reclaim Islam and the Qurʼan for themselves. In
the context of Malaysia, the groundswell of Islamic resurgence resulted indeveloping political feminist activism in the 1980s. SIS has been one of theforemost Muslim womenʼs rights groups in Malaysia since 1988. They havefocused their work in research, advocacy, and public education to end
discrimination against women in the name of Islam. Furthermore, one of
SISʼs goals has been to question the “male-biased aspects of the Syariah
and to counter patriarchal authority by highlighting the gender-justiceessence of the Qurʼan.” SIS has sought to ʻredefine, reclaim, and contributeto an understanding of how Islam has been codified and implemented inways to consider the realities and experiences of Muslim womenʼs lives.ʼ
Thus, SIS found that it is possible to reconcile and unify Islamic teachings
with a stronger and more positive feminist approach.

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

3.1 Why SIS is Important? (Overall Political Impact)
According to Jannah, SIS began advocating for Muslim women mainly
due to “... the dissatisfaction of Muslim women not getting their rights in
the Syariah courts. Thatʼs why [SIS] became an organization fighting anddemanding, and advocating what is right ” . Hanifah shared in her
background story of SIS that before SIS started to advocate for justice inequality for Muslim women, they had simply started oﬀ as a study group tolearn more about basic principles of Islam with other female Muslims:
And what is different in our [SISʼs] approach is that weʼre working
through a religion and going back to the text which is quite radical
because nobody had done that before we ... donʼt believe that manyof the injustices that are perpetuated, perpetuated against women ...
in the name of Islam actually have Islamic basis, so weʼre going backto the text and doing a lot of research and all that to, to seek out that
actual source of the discriminations which we believe is actuallycultural ... and just basic patriarchy. (Hanifah)
Thus, the particular approach that SIS chose to question genderinequalities was to revisit the religious text to seek the actual sources of thediscrimination that subjugated Muslim women in Malaysia. Understanding
these sources would allow SIS to address the existing barriers within thespecific context of Islamic morals. From the standpoint of SIS, it wasnecessary to address such issues strategically by understanding how tocreate more effective arguments on controversial issues. By referring to
specific verses of the Qurʼan, their direct connections to the constitution, as
well as lived realities, the position that SIS would take would enable themto advocate for Muslim women more strongly.
Prior to the establishment of SIS as an organization, the founding
members of SIS comprised of lawyers, academics, journalists, and activists,

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came together to discuss issues associated with the implementation of
new Islamic Family Laws which were legislated in 1984, and enforced in
1987 (ʻThe SIS Storyʼ, n.d.). Muslim Family Law reform had been the initial
mission of SIS, yet inevitably their work expanded to other womenʼs rights
issues. However, challenging the status quo of religious norms is never
simple or straightforward, as speaking up on such matters and advocating
for full women ʼ s rights within the Malaysian Islamic context are still
considered highly sensitive.
Among many other challenges, SIS has conducted advocacy campaigns
against the Hudud enactments adopted by the Islamic Party of Malaysia(Parti Islam Se Malaysia)-led Kelantan state government in 1993, and the
Terengganu state government in 2002 by submitting memoranda to theFederal Government on law reform (Ng, Mohamad & tan, 2006). While theIslamization process has brought about many changes to Malaysian society
over the past decades, the unequal situations of Muslim women have been
justified particularly under Islamic legislations. Thus, the continuing workof SIS for the rights of Muslim women within the framework of Islam has
benefited the feminist movement in Malaysia greatly by bringing attention
to these womenʼs rights issues.
However, as one of the womenʼs rights activists, Liu, reflected that “... [SISʼs] work is extremely important ... additionally very sensitive. Perhaps 3/4 ofthe country doesnʼt agree with them. Probably, because of the ... patriarchy,ʻ cause one that women are speaking up and, and then two ... they ʼ reprogressive on Islam ”. SIS has continually received criticisms from the
Malay Muslim communities, because standing up against and questioning
the mainstream understandings of Islamic beliefs and practices are highly
stigmatized. Thus, discussions of these issues still remain very controversial
especially within the strongly religious political context of Malaysia. Under
such circumstances, SIS has been drawing more attention to issues
regarding Muslim women, and the continuous eﬀorts of SIS over the past

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

twenty years have played a significant role in challenging the existing
status quo on contemporary patriarchal Islamic institutions.
3.2 How has SISʼs Activism Impacted Muslim WWLW and Sexualand-Gender-Marginalized Community?
SIS has played an extremely important role in bringing more awarenessto Muslim womenʼs issues. The activism that SIS continues to push forward
has brought about a big change for sexual-and-gender-marginalized
communities.
While SIS promoted basic human rights for all and continued to advocate
for equality and non-discriminatory practices in Malaysia, an ideological
clash between the concept of human rights and culturally embedded
notions of Islam have created more barriers on the work of SIS. Thisideological clash was evident through the lack of support combined withnegative attitudes from the public. Such attitudes manifested themselves
through a culture of moral policing against women, negative public
associations on sexuality-related issues, as well as the lack of religiousbased discourses and research on sexuality.
Jannah stated that SIS was against any type of moral policing against
women:... when it comes to ... problems under the Syariah Criminal Oﬀences
Act that [SIS] disagrees, ya, the whole ... whole moral policing andthis ... punishment for the same-sex ... acts, also falls under whatʼsviewed as ... moral policing, which Sisters in Islam is against. (Jannah)
SIS recognized discriminatory actions against sexual-and-gendermarginalized individuals and communities as basic violations of humanrights, which they stated needed to be acknowledged on a larger societal
level to enact long term changes. Moreover, SIS believed that all individuals

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regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity should be able toreceive fair treatment without exceptions. Jannah stated that,We [SIS] still argue on the basis of religion [that] nobody should bediscriminated against ... no matter how you deem the person to besinner or whatever and this involves also in moral policing because
weʼre very much against moral policing which is happening here inthis country. (Jannah)
As Jannah indicated in her interview that while issues related to sexuality
were highly stigmatized especially by religious authorities, such issues
needed to be addressed within Islamic discourses. She elaborated that itwas necessary to widen the scope of how such sensitive issues werereceived and discussed, instead of dismissed:
We [SIS] appeal for the more gentler and humane understanding
within the religion ... to address the issues of LGBTIQ, and not to justbrush them oﬀ as ... how do you say, sinners, you know. (Jannah)
Because non-mainstream understandings of Islam were consideredʻdeviant,ʼ SIS was constantly faced with public criticisms of their credibility,

putting the organization in a vulnerable position within the Islamic
community in Malaysia.
As a result, SIS took strategic actions especially when discussing topics
related to sexuality and religion. This was necessary because according toRayhana, there was still a lack of awareness when addressing diverse
perspectives on sexuality even within intellectual discourses in the Muslim
community. Rayhana elaborated on the diﬃculties of gaining support fromthe Islamic community due to the lack of effective discourses of other(Islamic) perspectives:

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women...SIS has been attacked from many sides and to embark the issue,
then youʼre totally alone. I mean, the Islamic community, there will
be no Ulama no Ustazo , even support you in any way even the
progressive one isnʼt supporting you ... even the intellectually, in theintellectual discourse in the Muslim world, they have not been much... discourse on the other perspectives. (Rayhana)
As Rayhana continued in her interview, she claimed that in order to address
the controversial issues and defend oneself from potential critics andopponents, it was imperative to have eﬀective research based arguments,
as well as solid references from basic religious studies to further support
the political position of SIS.
The lack of more intellectualized Islamic discourse on sexuality has
meant that there is essentially not a platform to discuss these issues in amore culturally and religiously appropriate manner. Islamic interpretations
on sexuality have not yet been constructed on both the regional andglobal level. Thus, as Jannah indicated that SIS was also still not in theposition to utilize intellectualized evidence-based support of Islamicinterpretations on sexuality (specific to same-sex sexual relations), mainly
because such topics were still considered off-limits by the majority ofIslamic discourses. Sheena expressed her concern that without the researchsupport, SIS as an organization would not be able to claim that
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity wereviolations of basic human rights:
Our [SISʼs] only concern is that because we [SIS] are not all wellversed in theological arguments when it comes to sexuality, as anorganization, we canʼt go further than saying “do not discriminate”. If
we had the theological backing, then we would be able to, if we had
the theological argument lined out, and thereʼs a case to be made,172then well versed in it, you can defend it. (Sheena)
This is especially important as sexuality issues in particular are more
stigmatized and considered controversial compared with gender issues in
Malaysia. Clarifying SISʼs position on such sensitive issues required a certain
amount of knowledge and skills. Without these perspectives, SIS would not
only be unable to advocate for their own mission as an organization, but
sexual-and-gender-marginalized groups would continue to face more
discrimination without support.
However, while the lack of research has been a barrier to further
discussions, SIS has also made public statements in support of the local
sexual-and-gender-marginalized communities by advocating that
discrimination against all human beings regardless of sexuality is wrong.5
Because there were no other organization that specifically challenged andadvocated for sexuality rights issues from Islamic perspectives in Malaysia,
SIS took an important step by issuing public statements to promote antidiscrimination practices through the human rights approach. This has
implications for all sexual-and-gender-marginalized communities including
Muslim WWLW. The situations that face them are complicated further
through not only being a woman in this highly patriarchal society, but also
as another minority group within the already minoritized community.
3.3 Protection Issues for SIS Members
Given the social, political, and historical situations that face SIS anddifferent sexual-and-gender-marginalized communities in Malaysia,
individuals and organizations that continue to advocate for thesemarginalized communities need to have an extensive knowledge about
how to challenge potential backlash and advocate to bring about change.
Due to the controversial nature of the issues that SIS dealt with, it was not
surprising that the working environment within SIS tended to be highly

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

pressured. Azura commented that, “ it is a real risk for all the people
involved, you know, and thatʼs one of the biggest things, like you have tothink about all the risks and all the protection for everyone involved. Like itʼs ... itʼs dangerous, and especially for Muslims ...” As SIS was the only Muslim
womenʼs rights organization that addressed culturally specific social issues
within this religious context, they could essentially become ʻ easy
scapegoatsʼ and be scrutinized publicly, making all its members vulnerable
to potential attacks from the government, media and the mainstream
Muslim communities. Furthermore, considering the complex situations ofsexual-and-gender-marginalized communities within a heteronormative
religious society, drawing unwanted attentions due to the less strategic
actions that SIS took could potentially result these communities getting
targeted for the further discrimination and violence. Thus it was necessary
to be strategic about decreasing the potential vulnerabilities on every
level.
For SIS members, to feel “safe enough” to go against the grain of society
and normalized religious values, they need to feel “ protected ” on a
personal and professional level, in order to advocate in a unified way as anorganization. Because as the topics themselves were “... very sensitive andvery complicated because itʼs ... considered new knowledge for ... feminists
even to work on within the Islamic or faith tradition. Yea, very, very
diﬃcult”, as Jannah said. She elaborated that this was especially because
issues related to sexuality were still considered highly sensitive topics andremained difficult for some SIS staff to discuss openly even within thehuman rights framework.
Jamilah also explained the significance of why such a strategy wasnecessary for staﬀ, to not only defined SIS on a professional level but also
on a personal level:
We [SIS] have staﬀ ... who may not be as progressive as the other [SIS]174

Members, and even among the Member have different points ofviews. Itʼs about keeping everybody in same page to be formed what
the realities on the ground is. You know, what the challenges on the
ground. (Jamilah)
Jamilah and Sheena stated in their interviews that prior to any kind of
public statements being issues, SIS conducted knowledge building training
and meetings for staﬀ, in order to position themselves on controversial andsensitive topics. For example, when SIS issued a statement against the
Seksualiti Merdeka ban in 2011, there were also concurrent knowledge andcapacity building trainings for their staﬀ. It was due to the sensitive natureof the issue as Jannah explained that the levels of understanding mightvary amongst the individual staff members. This point was further
highlighted by other staff members of SIS, including Sheena who
recognized the issue of “protection” and being “prepared” not only for thecommunities they advocated for, but also for themselves:... [when] you get attacked from working at the organization [SIS],
and if you are not prepared, then that can be like, feel like ʻoh mygodʼ you really feel threatened. So [SIS] also has considered to takecare of staﬀ as well. (Sheena)
It was important for SIS to address the varied perceptions andknowledge base of all members within SIS. Through such professional
development, SIS staff would essentially be able to gain the language inorder to fully advocate for Muslim womenʼs rights. It was necessary to be
strategic about decreasing the potential vulnerability of SIS within thelarger context but also on an individual level for those involved in SIS.
There was also a general consensus for the need for such awarenessbuilding trainings for SIS staﬀ to essentially “protect” themselves not only

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Womenfrom Islamist criticisms but especially in personal relationships:... to be able to talk about the issue to the family, or sometimes they[staff ] get criticized by the family about, friends about, neighbors
about SISʼs position in this issue. So they need to be well informed tofeel confident about talking it, and know how, why the SIS, even if
they donʼt agree. But to understand why SIS takes the position that it
takes ... they may not necessarily support all the positions that SIS
takes. But they should be able to explain ... why we take that
position. (Jamilah)
In other words, regardless of how the individuals within SIS feel about
these issues on a personal level, it was extremely important for everyone tounderstand the nature of the core issues that SIS was striving to challenge.
Because the topics are controversial not only on a societal level but also
potentially on an individual level, it was necessary for everyone in SIS to beable to “speak confidently” about these issues with friends and family as
well. By creating a safe learning environment for each individual within SIS,
all SIS members would be able to gain the knowledge that would
essentially help them to “protect” themselves when advocating for Muslim
womenʼs rights.
4 On Going Womenʼs Activism in Malaysia
In order to address the issues of “protection” on an individual level for all
SIS members, SIS conducted ongoing staﬀ group trainings. However, thisissue of strategically positioning SIS as an organization for protective
measures required not only for each individual within SIS to be well-versedin the political challenges, but also called for SIS to render support fromoutside. Given that sexuality issues were still not consistently included aspart of any discussion on a broader national level, it was important for SIS

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to find as much support as possible in order to advocate more eﬀectively.
By joining forces with other womenʼs organizations in Malaysia, SIS gained
more outside support to challenge the status quo and essentially add
another layer of “protection” for the organization as a whole. This support
network was built through collective efforts that can be known as ʻJoint
Action Group for Gender Equalityʼ (JAG).
JAG consisted of a small network of 9 coalitions formed by women ʼsrights groups6 and activists aiming to gain more recognition to specificproblems, issues and needs of women in Malaysia (“Joint Action Group”,
n.d.). The uniqueness of these collaborative eﬀorts was mainly due to theways in which diﬀerent womenʼs organizations and activists came together
in order to address issues that directly aﬀected women in Malaysia. Becauseof the flexibility in deciding what issues to address and how to support one
another eﬀectively, members of JAG were well in tune with controversial
issues and events. Liu shared these insights as a member of JAG:
Basically thereʼs 9 NGOs in JAG, and collaboratively ... these NGOs
decide what to do or what to say together. So ... thereʼs no like, one
NGO or thereʼs no like one director of JAG ... It just like 9 groups dothe same thing when something happens, we do together ... So thatʼs the thing about JAG. Everyone is in tune with whatʼs going on at
JAG. (Liu)
One of the main goals of collaboration for JAG members was tostrengthen the political participation and voices of women to achieve
gender equality and increase public awareness of such issues in Malaysiansociety. Because there was still little general support from the public, those
who were involved in JAG recognized the strengths in supporting eachother through creating public awareness. Both Rayhana and Azura also
reiterated the importance of all activists working together to support one

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

another:
When it comes to activism ... maybe because weʼre such a small
community and itʼs hard to do anything anyway, that you needeveryone you can get support from. And which include everyone,
you know. (Azura)
Being in the, you know, in this activism world, I mean you have tosupport each other, yea. Because if not, youʼll be left alone, if youʼrein trouble. But I think in general, the activism scene in Malaysia, I
think most activists and NGOs are supportive to each other.
(Rayhana)
Liu elaborated further on how their strategic eﬀorts strengthened JAGʼspolitical stance, given the fact how small the community was to begin withand with the obvious lack of public support:
Thereʼs only 9 groups, but all ... the work that JAG does is extremely ...
active. And if you do a press statement, first statement is in one areawith JAG taking place ... each NGO have their own thing, so if
something happens and issues a warrants and responds in media ...
JAG is quite cohesive ...l ike coming out with these statements andsometimes press conferences, if ... needed. (Liu)
Through creating stronger networks of support, JAG members were
essentially able to pool together their resources to collectively address
controversial issues affecting women. Because each representing
organization within JAG had their own specific focus, JAG members werealso able to draw from each otherʼs expertise and knowledge to strengthen
the political power of JAG. As there was a range of existing womenʼs issues,

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group collaboration was a strategic move in order to challenge larger, more
complex issues that individuals alone could not do.
For example, of the 9 groups within JAG, SIS was the only organizationthat dealt specifically with womenʼs issues within the context of Islam.
Sheena stated that “... we [SIS] challenge the ... popular understanding andthe monopoly that religious authorities have over the interpretations ofreligion”. Furthermore, SISʼs involvement in JAG provided deeper culturaland religious insight into womenʼs issues, especially for the Islamic sexualand-gender-marginalized communities.
Although activism by JAG was still fairly new and at the beginning ofcreating alternative ways to openly discuss policy changes and issues
related to sexuality topics (or any case perceived to be violating
fundamental liberties), it was an important platform for existing womenʼsgroups. By using JAG as a platform to further delve into Muslim womenʼsissues, SIS was able to advocate much more eﬀectively for the community,
while also contributing to more awareness for other JAG members and the
public. Thus, it was clear that SIS played an important role in JAG to discuss
sexuality issues with regard to Islam.
5 Conclusion
Through this study, I gained a better understanding of the social andpolitical situations of what Muslim WWLW were facing through examining
the multilayered obstacles that existed in Malaysia for Muslim womenactivists and sexuality rights activists. Muslim WWLW were increasingly
subjected to the threat of moral policing in Malaysia yet, studies reflecting
these experiences and situations are still limited. It is interesting to notethat through this study I realized that while womenʼs rights advocates haveconsidered diﬀerent sexuality rights issues, the voices and experiences ofMuslim WWLW were still underrepresented. Moreover, issues regarding
sexual diversity and sexuality rights were not topics that were openly and研究ノート：マレーシアにおける「女」同士のつながりを考える―ムスリム女性権利運動と女性を愛するムスリム女性― 179

Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

actively discussed in the womenʼs activist movement, due to their sensitive
nature. Some research has also suggested that womenʼs groups in Malaysia
have had diﬃculty focusing on specific sexuality-related topics within thecontext of women ʼ s rights. However, women ʼ s rights advocates have
gradually addressed issues that diﬀerent sexual-and-gender-marginalized
communities are facing. More recently, the transwomen community,
sexuality rights activist groups, and womenʼs rights groups have supported
each other to take up the critical issues facing the transwomen (mak nyah)community, including criminal charges under the Syariah court, etc.
A big limitation of this study was that there are very few studies on this
topic in the Malaysian context. This was especially when womenʼs issues
fell outside the framework of heterosexual norms, such as with womenʼsanatomy over sexual preferences, identity and practices. There were still
issues to be further explored in the existing advocacies of womenʼs rights
groups. That is not to disregard the changes accomplished and theprogress made through their organized efforts and actions thus far.
However, there are overlapping issues that aﬀect both Muslim women andMuslim WWLW, thus, all dimensions of womenʼs experiences should be
explored. In particular, pengkids,7 who tend to come from working classbackgrounds continue to experience violence (i.e. harassment, rape) due totheir “masculine” appearance. Women who did not live up to traditional
gender images were easily targeted for harassment and violence. Thus,
further work in research and in women ʼs advocacy movement should
consider all possible realities affecting women ʼ s lived realities andsituations.
Considering the limitations identified above, further studies will need tolook at how issues are framed in the activist groups and what the eﬀects
may be. Also, taking a closer look into the individual experiences of Muslim
WWLW might reveal different social class backgrounds, as well as otherethnicities. Through gaining such perspectives, further studies should

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examine the ways in which Muslim WWLW continue to negotiate living out
their religious faith and same-sex partnerships in Malaysia. Such
possibilities found within Muslim womenʼs sexuality rights in the Malaysian
Islamic context will shed light on sexual-and-gender-marginalized
communities, and also enable both womenʼs rights activism and sexuality
rights activism to break down the heteronormative and patriarchal
systems.

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

Footnotes
1

The term “lesbian” carries diﬀerent connotations across diverse cultural settings.
It also holds very different self-identification values for each women-loving
individual. The purpose of adopting the term ʻ Women-Who-Love-Women ʼthroughout this study was to capture more nuanced connotations of womenʼssame-sex sexual relationships in the local context of Malaysia.

2

The estimated population in Malaysia was approximately 28.3 million in 2010. The
Malaysian citizenry is made up of three major distinct ethnocultural groups:
67.4% Bumiputera (literally, ʻson of the soilʼ), followed by 24.6% Chinese, 7.3%
Hindi, and 0.7% other groups. The category of Bumiputera is comprised of Malay
and non-Malay indigenous groups such as the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia
and East Malaysia, as well as Kadazans and Ibans in the states of Sabah andSarawak. Amongst these Malaysian citizens, Malays are considered the
predominant ethnic group in Peninsular Malaysia constituting 63.1% (Malaysia,
2010)

3

Examples of criminalization of sexual transgressions include: “sexual intercourse
out of wedlock” (zina), “sexual relations between male persons” (liwat), “sexual
relations between female persons” (musahaqah). Furthermore, cross-dressing
provisions (pondan) under SCOAs are also used against those who transgress
heterosexist norms (Syariah Law, n.d.)4

Fatwas are “theological and legal reasoning given by a mufti (the top religious
oﬃcial at the state level) to enlighten and educate the public about Islam ... (and)are regarded as advisory opinion” (Anwar, 2001:240). Yet such fatwas are given
automatic force of law under the Syariah criminal law once they were gazetted.
The reason why such legal ʻopinionsʼ are able to have such authority was due tothe Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993, which granted
state muftiʼs the authoritarian power to amend or repeal any fatwas previously
issued (Anwar, 2001)

5

Press statement issued by Sisters in Islam to opposes ban on Seksualiti Merdeka(Sisters in Islam, 2011)

6

Current membership of JAG: All Womenʼs Action Society (AWAM), Perak Women
for Women (PWW ), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower),

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Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS), Sabah Womenʼs Action-Resource
Group (SAWO), Sisters in Islam (SIS), Womenʼs Aid Organization (WAO), Womenʼs
Center for Change (WCC), Tenaganita (ʻJoint Action Groupʼ, n.d.)7“localized synonym for a masculine-looking Malay-Muslim lesbian” (Wong, 2012,

p. 436)

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

References
A Malaysian Inquisition? (2014 January 6). In New Mandala. Retrieved from http://
asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/01/06/a-malaysian-inquisition/(Accessed January 6, 2014).
Anwar, Z. (2001). What Islam, Whose Islam?: Sisters in Islam and the Struggle for
Women ʼ s Rights. In R. W. Hefner (Ed.), The Politics of Multiculturalism:
Pluralism and Citizenship in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (pp. 227-252).

Honolulu: University of Hawaiʼi Press
Biernacki, P. & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques ofChain Referral Sampling. Sociological Methods & Research, 10(2), 141-163
Fatwa on tomboys. (2008 October 24). In The Star Online. Retrieved from http://www.
thestar.com.my/story.aspx?file=%2f2008%2f10%2f24%2fnation%2f236290
8&sec=nation (Accessed September 26, 2013)
Joint Action Group. (n.d.) In AWAM. Retrieved from http://www.awam.org.my/
advocacy/jag/ (Accessed January 6, 2014)
Lee, J.C.H. (2011). Policing Sexuality: Sex, Society, and the State. London & New York:
Zed Books.
Malaysia. 2010. Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristic Report
2010. Putra Jaya: Department of Statistics, Malaysia.

Malaysian religious council issues ban on lesbian sex. (2008 October 23). In The
Associated Press. Retrieved fromhttp://w w w.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ticle/ALeqM5izKo_
RKkF40cfljjibbi3Yai-5Tw (Accessed September 27, 2013)
Malaysiaʼs fatwa council explains how ʻtomboysʼ become lesbians. (2008 November
27). In Pink News. Retrieved from http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2008/11/27/
malaysias-fatwa-council-explains-how-tomboys-become-lesbians/(Accessed September 27, 2013)
Ng, C., Mohamad, M., & tan, b. h. (2006). Feminism and the Women’s Movement in
Malaysia: An Unsung (R)evolution. London and New York: Routledge.

Sisters in Islam (2011 November 3). Press Statement: Sisters in Islam opposes ban on
Seksualiti Merdeka. Retrieved from http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/news.

php?item.922.98 (Accessed September 27, 2013)

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Syariah Law. (n.d.). In E-Syariah Official Portal. Retrieved from http://www.esyariah.
gov.my/ (Accessed July 25, 2013)
The SIS Story (n.d.). In Sisters in Islam Empowering Voices for Change. Retrieved fromhttp://www.sistersinislam.org.my/page.php?35 (Accessed January 14, 2014)
Wong, Y. (2012). Islam, Sexuality, and the Marginal Positioning of Pengkids and Their
Girlfriends in Malaysia. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 16 (4), 435-448

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Research notes : Thinking about Solidarities among Women in Malaysia: Muslim Women’s Rights Activism
and Muslim Women-Who-Love-Women

マレーシアにおける「女」同士のつながりを考える―ムスリム女性権利運動と女性を愛するムスリム女性―
上田真央

著者は、マレーシアにおいて女性を愛するムスリム女性（WWLW）を取り巻く社会状況と問題を分析するにあたり、WWLW に関する記述が極端に限られている状況に直面した。 そのため本稿では、90 年代後半にセクシュアリ

ティ・イシューの重要性を示唆したムスリム女性権利団体シスターズ・イン・イスラーム（SIS）に注目し、これまで SIS の中で WWLW に関わる問題がどう扱われてきたのか、またその限界と今後の可能性を分析した。調査は SIS のメ

ンバーを中心に、セクシュアリティ・ライツ運動に携わる活動家などを含む

14 人に個別の半構造化インタビューを実施した。調査の結果、80 年代以推進されたイスラーム化政策とそれに伴う宗教法の改正・施行が WWLW を含むム
スリム女性や、セクシュアル・マイノリティを取り巻く問題に強く影響していることが示された。さらに、その宗教政治的な影響により、セクシュアリティ
や性の多様性などのイシューを扱うことは「害悪」とされ、啓発活動や支援活動に多くの障壁を生みだしていることも示された。障壁の一つとして、セク
シュアリティに関する宗教的議論の脆弱性が強調され、潜在的なリスクへの懸念から活動に関わる人たちやコミュニティの安全確保に関して多く語られた。
また、障壁を乗り越え活動を行うため団体という枠を超えた「女」同士の連帯が、他の女性団体やセクシュアリティ・ライツ運動、トランスジェンダー・コ
ミュニティとの協働という形で発展してきていることが明らかになった。しかし、WWLW を取り巻く問題が女性権利運動とセクシュアリティ・ライツ運動の双方から周縁化されていることも示された。そのため、草の根活動でどのように問題の取り組みがされているのか等の調査と、WWLW の経験や社会生活についての実証研究を推進していくことが今後の課題になるだろう。

Keywords:
マレーシア、女同士のつながり、女性を愛するムスリム女性、イスラミック・

フェミニスト・アプローチ、イスラーム化政策