Is ‘Daulat’ Progressive or Problematic? Two Queer & Conflicting Movie Reviews



Daulat has been making waves on Malaysian social media as one of the best local films of all time. But is this true?

Two queer writers, Deric Ee and Veshalini Naidu give two strong and opposing views on the film to cut through all the hype. Warning: Some spoilers ahead.

“A Small Triumph for Malaysian Filmmaking, But a Triumph Regardless”
By Deric Ee

There is a boldness in Daulat’s portrayal of Malaysian politics, and it might be the most daring film made locally. Certain scenes were so risque (there is a certain ball-grabbing scene we shall not spoil) that Malaysia’s notoriously conservative film censorship board refused to approve the film for standard release.

Nevertheless, director Imran Sheik managed to find it a home on streaming platform iFlix where it is available in its full glory. With media laws that state ‘evil deeds’ in cinema can only be depicted if accompanied by repercussions, this has the power to make or break a film. Thankfully, we see a character coded as gay who doesn’t have to ‘repent or die’.

Daulat’s plot reads more like a news article post-GE14 by opening with an election loss: Malay nationalist party MUNA, whose president is weighed down by corruption charges, is defeated by their opponent, WAWASAN. What follows is a figurative game of chess as MUNA tries to regain control of the country. Vanidah Imran’s character, Suri, the deputy president of MUNA plays hard and dirty, pushing for a coalition with Islamists and liberals while sowing discord in the opposition’s camp through her husband’s (Rashidi Ishak) news organisation.

The possibilities of streaming have truly freed local filmmakers from the rut of censorship. Suri is in an open relationship with her husband because true love is not concerned with possession. The political parties⁠—MUNA and WAWASAN⁠—mirror the real-life relationship between UMNO and Keadilan. Most refreshing of all is how politics is stripped of its pretence and is shown nakedly, as a game of power and control among the ruling class, where the rakyat’s needs come second.

Despite the creative freedom given to director Imran Sheik, there is a sense he never fully takes advantage of this. It checks all of the boxes of a typical ‘bad movie’: Over-dramatic performances? Check. Expository dialogue? Simply too many. Problematic representation? Women and queer characters are annoyingly stereotypical.

Read more@https://www.queerlapis.com/daulat-movie-review/

“Daulat Is a Malaysian House of Cards: As Weak as Paper”
By Veshalini Naidu

Daulat is the promise that Malaysian cinema has the means and the talent to do well aesthetically, but will continue to be blind in its portrayal and treatment of women and queer characters, even when uncensored.

Women are given the chance to climb the ranks in traditionally male-dominated politics. And yet, this cannot be imagined without excessive and unnecessary violence on them, and the use of LGBTQIA+ as scapegoats for political games. They are abused, used, reduced and in one particular and uncalled for scene, literally choked, by men in power, and none of these acts are ever confronted.

The main character, Suri, is present for most of the film but we learn nothing about her. We don’t understand why she wants power, what her goals are, why she is here. We spend most of the time seeing other (mostly male) character’s stories fleshed out, but not hers.

In probably one of the first local films to portray a pride flag, it is sad to see it weaponised. This happens when one of the politicians is filmed at being at a Women’s March and behind him is a huuuge Pride flag. This was used by his opponents to pin him as an LGBTQ supporter, to which he gets defensive and challenges his rival to a… debate? Watching identities be used as conflict markers is not just painful, it is also lazy writing.

There is also a very flamboyant character who plays the Gay Best Friend™. He is an entertainment journalist (obvs). He has no reason to be in this story, other than to be the funny gay guy. Except it becomes immensely clear that the humour is in his mannerism and not that he’s actually funny.

Read more@https://www.queerlapis.com/daulat-movie-review/

Anyone interested to claim gay asylum in Switzerland ?...........I want to know the process.

Are you currently in Switzerland?

No, now KL here... I am planning to fly dubai ........and geneva next year

This post has been edited by Kebunsayur: May 6 2020, 12:21 PM

I see... I think you need to be prepared to prove how your life is in danger by being openly gay in Malaysia. Like this guy he managed to get refugee status in Canada. Apart from that can't really offer any advice on this, but all the best!

Thank you ....helpful good info there.

Hi.. I stumbled upon this tweet today. Makes me sad. Have you encountered this kind of situation before? I want to help him but i don't know how

Yeah, I personally know another guy who was kicked out of his family this week too because they found out he is gay. Currently living with another friend.

The guy in the tweet already approached by some NGOs who offered some help, though. So at least he will have a place to stay for the moment.

All of these really put into perspective about how fragile our life as LGBT people are in this society.

I hope he will get help ASAP. No one should be living in fear.

The replies who defending the parents disgust me the most. Using religion to back up the abusers.

Cmna kantoi gay?

Diam2 sudah la

Yep, can't imagine how he is feeling right now. But I applaud him for being brave enough to run away from his toxic family.

Entahlah. Tapi waktu PKP ni memang ramai golongan vulnerable macam wanita dan LGBT yang kena dera.

Whatever it is, let's not blame the victim.

Good thing about this story, the guy doesn't need to pretend he's straight anymore and can live his authentic life from now on.

Netflix responds to viral homophobic tweet in best possible way
Source: https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/135292/n...t-possible-way/



Don’t you just love it when homophobes are put in their place?

Earlier this week, a Twitter user went viral with an edited Spongebob Squarepants meme supposedly demonstrating how Netflix are forcing “unnecessary gay characters” in every new television series. You know, TV that actually reflects reality.

Worryingly, the post earned over 135,000 likes and 35,000 retweets, as well as hundreds of alarming anti-LGBTQ comments and rhetoric such as, “Heterosexuality is what allowed the continuity of the human race. What is normal isn’t forced.”

However, the LGBTQ community and its allies rallied behind each other and tore the tweet to shreds.

“Personally I dislike all the unnecessary straight and cis people,” joked one user, while another wrote: “The same way you people forced heterosexuality down our throats is the same way we’ll force homosexuality down your throats.”

Now, Netflix have stepped in themselves and honey, they are not here for this homophobia. Like, at all.

The official Twitter account for the streaming service – and we’re not talking about a country-specific account, we mean the big one with 7.8 million followers – quoted the tweet with the most epic of clap backs.

Love will always win!

This post has been edited by internaldisputes: May 10 2020, 01:10 PM

Germany passes ban on gay ‘conversion’ therapy for minors
Source: https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/community/135334...apy-for-minors/



Germany has become the first major European country to pass a ban on gay ‘conversion’ therapy, something that even the United Kingdom hasn’t managed to do yet.

The law has banned the discredited practice being carried out on people under the age of 18, and groups, including parents, who attempt to force minors into it face up to a year in prison, or a €30,000 (roughly equivalent to £26,000) fine. There will also be penalties if people older than 18 are coerced or deceived into undergoing the practice.

According to figures from the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, around 1,000 people in Germany are subjected to gay ‘conversion’ therapy every year.

MPs from the Green and Left Parties have called for the law to be expanded, and cover people up to 27 years old, but defending the law, Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, said: “I want a ban which will be robust, including if it’s brought before the courts.

“Young people are being forced into conversion therapies and so it is very important that they should find support in the existence of this law: a clear signal that the state does not want this to happen.”

Reuters reports that Green Party legislators wrote: “Only minors are to be protected from this life-endangering charlatanry. At the very least young people aged between 18 and 26 need comparable protection, as is shown by the experiences of coming-out and many young people’s dependence on their families.”

The ban did receive international praise, with ‘conversion’ therapy survivor and co-founder of Born Perfect, Mathew Shurka, saying: “Germany is the first major European country to protect LGBTQ people from this insidious practice, which is one of the primary drivers of suicide and depression among LGBTQ youth.

“Especially during this time, when many LGBTQ people are feeling more isolated and alone than ever, Germany’s leadership is a powerful example of how governments can stand up for LGBTQ youth.”

The UK was once ranked the most LGBT-friendly nation in Europe. This year, it’s not even close



The annual Rainbow Map ranking has named Poland, Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan as some of the worst countries to be LGBT+ in Europe, while the UK continues to slide down the rankings.

Since 2009, LGBT+ organisation ILGA-Europe has compiled an annual Rainbow Map ranking of the 49 countries in Europe based on each country’s commitment to LGBT+ rights and equality.

In the ranking each country is assigned a percentage point based on its standing in six key areas: equality and non-discrimination; family; hate crime and hate speech; legal gender recognition and bodily integrity; civil society space and asylum.

This year’s list names Azerbaijan as the worst country in Europe for LGBT+ rights and equality with a score of just 2.3 per cent. Other countries trailing behind include Turkey (3.8 per cent), Armenia (7.5 per cent), Russia (10 per cent) and Poland (16 per cent).

Conversely, Malta topped the ILGA-ranking for the fifth year in a row, coming out with an incredible 89 per cent score. It was followed by Belgium and Luxembourg (both 73 per cent), Denmark and Norway (both 68 per cent) and Spain (67 per cent).

UK falls down Rainbow Map rankings because of trans hostility and lack of reforms to GRA.

The United Kingdom finished in ninth place on the Rainbow Map ranking with a score of 66 per cent, having been eighth last year and fourth the year prior. Until 2015, it had been rated the best place in Europe for LGBT+ rights.

The organisation also noted that trans people in the UK are facing “a hostile climate” that is “fuelled by opposition groups”, and are served by a Gender Recognition Act is “not effective in practice”.

Worryingly, the ranking found that there has been no positive change for LGBT+ people in the past year in 49 per cent of the countries polled.

It also found that some countries are continuing to move backwards on LGBT+ rights and protections, a move that first appeared in last year’s index.

Trans and intersex people’s rights are in a state of flux across Europe.

The Rainbow Map index found that trans rights are in a state of flux across Europe — “for better or worse” — and that this is where the biggest shifts are taking place.

Some countries jumped up in the ILGA-Europe ranking this year after they extended essential rights to trans and intersex people. The organisation praised Andorra, Belgium, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, and Switzerland for including gender identity and sex characteristics under equality laws.

Iceland was also praised for introducing new gender recognition legislation and Spain was commended for introducing gender recognition for minors.

However, that progress has not been seen across the board, with gender recognition measures in Albania, Cyprus, Finland and Sweden stalling.

Read more: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/05/14/rainb...europe-uk-ilga/

Forced exorcisms touted as ‘cure’ for LGBT Indonesians



JAKARTA: Andin is haunted by memories of being forced into an exorcism to “save” her from being transgender — a ritual that could become mandatory for Indonesia’s LGBT community if a controversial new law is passed.

For two decades she has endured harassment and abuse as her family desperately tried to “cure” her.

Treatments ranged from being bombarded with Koranic verses while trapped in a locked room for days, to being doused with freezing-cold water by an imam promising to purge the “gender disease”.

But it is the exorcism that breaks her heart.

She was taken against her will to a strange religious guru near her hometown of Medan in Sumatra. He showed her a burial shroud commonly used to cover the dead and prayed over her.

He then gave a stark choice: relinquish life as a woman, or go to hell.

“Nothing changed after the exorcism. I’m still LGBT, but my family didn’t give up easily,” says Andin, 31, who asked that her real name not be used.

“It’s traumatising — the horror of that memory stays in my head.”

Forced exorcism is a common story for gay and transgender people in the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, where a conservative shift has seen the community increasingly targeted in recent years.

Homosexuality is legal everywhere in Indonesia except conservative Aceh province which adheres to strict Islamic laws.

But it is still widely believed that being gay or transgender is the result of a person being possessed by evil spirits — and that these can be expelled by religious ceremony and prayer.

Now, conservative Islamic lawmakers have tabled a so-called “Family Resilience” bill, which critics decry as sexist and anti-LGBT.

Gay and transgender people would be forced to undergo “rehabilitation” — an umbrella term likely to include exorcisms and other “conversion treatments” — to purge what bill advocates say is a sexual deviancy.

Read more: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...bt-indonesians/

Time for Malaysia to embrace LGBT community — Bakhtiar Talhah
Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-thi...-talhah/1866866



MAY 17 — In 2018, two Malaysian women received six lashes in an open court in Terengganu.

Last year, five Malaysian men were fined, imprisoned, and caned for attempted sexual intercourse.

And many Malaysians are arrested and jailed every year for the way they dress.

These Malaysians share one commonality: they are all part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population that is part of the Malaysian fabric.

Despite the inhumane ways my country treats its LGBT population, I proudly and openly count myself as a LGBT Malaysian.

First and foremost, let me be honest and declare that I am a privileged Malaysian.

I am a Malay Bumiputera who attended the elite Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), the school that produced some of the best Malaysian leaders, intellectuals, and professionals who serve this country.

Stellar SPM results won me a full scholarship that took me to Princeton University, and subsequently a career that spanned the globe, and a (gay) marriage in France that almost made me write Malaysia off for good.

But I found myself back here, to the same place that rejected my very existence, among a populace that still thinks LGBT folks do not belong.

While I climbed the corporate ladder through those years, leaders in Malaysia continued to fuel homophobia with some referring to the LGBT people as enemies of Islam, along with liberalism and pluralism.

I look around and am immensely proud by the way Malaysians managed things amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

I see LGBT Malaysians everywhere; healthcare professionals at the frontlines, corporate leaders, social activists, educationists, legal practitioners, artists, chefs, entrepreneurs, Grab riders. The list goes on.

We are part and parcel of what makes Malaysia great. And it is time that the country embraces us for who we are.

We can start by creating positive spaces in our families and workplaces, where sexual orientation and gender identities should be irrelevant, or better still, celebrated.

It is a long, difficult way to change national and religious laws in this country, but if we can open up a little bit more to each other and share our stories, it would be the first step to break down barriers.

After all, I am certain every Malaysian knows an LGBT person, who is a family member, friend, neighbour, or colleague.

Michelle Obama (another Princeton alumnus!) said “We can’t afford to wait for the world to be equal to start feeling seen.”

I am not holding my breath for Malaysia to treat me as an equal, but today I choose to be unafraid to live openly as a proud, gay Malaysian.

* May 17 marks the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, created in 2004 to draw attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions and sex characteristics.

May 17 was chosen because it commemorates the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

The World Sees A Man, But I’m More: I’m Malaysian Drag Queen Kitty Vön Phiercè

The drag queen scene in Malaysia is bigger than you think. Did you know that there is a community here? Probably not – because it’s difficult to see them anywhere but on social media, where they are free to live their best lives. But, even there, they are subject to abuse, hate and harassment. Recently, the Queens in Malaysia did a “Don’t Rush” Challenge on TikTok and some people have used it as a reason to spread more hate and hostility towards the drag and LGBTQ+ community. In a now-removed post on Instagram and a group chat for the channel, their video was posted with the captions and some of the responses.



We speak to R* (name withheld for their safety), a local drag queen about being queer in Malaysia as well as for a much-needed reminder that members of the LGBTQ+ community are human too.

1. Not many people know who they are – how did you find out who “you” are?

It was a roller coaster ride, hah.

Growing up, I’ve always felt a whole lot more fem than mass (feminine than masculine). I despised society’s idea of what a man should be. At 7, I was like, “What do you mean I can’t shake my hips in a certain way?”. So for the longest time, I thought that since I didn’t fit into the mould of what a man should be, that I might be a woman after all. I genuinely thought that I was a girl trapped in the body of a chubby boy. But then I watched Manila Luzon’s music video for “Haute Couture” in full awe. I did some research and… it was a godsend. I finally understood that I am not trans – I just am all and neither at the same time. I now identify as a non-binary and non-conforming. In layman terms, I do not believe that I belong to any gender or any gender that is on the spectrum. If genders lined up in a straight line from the most masc gender to the most fem gender, I’d probably be at home not participating in the lineup. My pronouns are they/them.

I was also born into a Muslim household. The one constant throughout my life has been my love for Islam. I went to Sekolah Agama (religious school), religious classes and camps. I grew up respecting Islam and I definitely had doubts and insecurities about where I fit or stand in Islam. But I found that because of my love for Islam, I am constantly expanding my knowledge and understanding of it through reading journals and other interpretations online. I’ve now become comfortable living as a queer person and a devoted Muslim. 

2. And who is Kitty?

The Kitty Von Phierce is tenacious and driven. Kitty is a tough cookie that does not crumble easily.

Kitty is not afraid to tackle social issues and messages through performances. With Kitty, I explore different concepts like one I did for a medley of  “God is A Woman”, “Bloody Mary” and “The Laughing Track” that was based on the concept of how people see women as less and the effect of that on mental health and will of life. 



As Kitty, I could walk, run and dance in 10-inch heels without fear of falling. But as R, I’m still struggling to talk to people on the phone. I’m an Aquarius, so I’m very artsy and creative-minded, but with anxiety and my mental health, it’s a struggle to reach my true potential. Kitty is an extension of me because Kitty is pretty much everything that I aspire to be. 

I truly pride myself as being one of the first few starts in the new age wave of drag queens here in KL – which basically refers to the Queens that are born within the sphere of the internet and with an online presence. When I first started, there were only me, Kumela Kumslut and Carmen Rose.

Read More @ https://www.likely.com.my/the-world-sees-a-...cc%88n-phierce/

So meaning anyone who dresses in clothes different to their own sex will be arrested regardless of race?

In public, for Muslims, then yes. Correct me if I am wrong.

But you are not gonna wear in public right? If just indoors, so no issues there.