Tun M: Civil and Syariah judges should discuss cross-dressing issue

KUALA LUMPUR: Civil and Syariah court judges should discuss the cross-dressing issue, especially with regards to Muslims.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it would be beneficial if such a meeting could be held.
"However, it will be up to the government to decide but we must not forget that some people are born not being certain of their gender where some would look like men but in actual fact they are women and vice-versa, and this makes them have different feelings than their looks," he said, adding that the issue of cross-dressing is just contemporary because there are certain clothing belonging to men, such as jeans, being worn by women.
"So, are jeans for men or women? In the past it was not a problem because men and women dressed differently but now things have changed," he added.
Mahathir said this at a press conference after officiating the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2014, an international gathering of Muslims held to address current issues affecting the ummah and the Muslim world.
He was referring to a recent Court of Appeal ruling which ruled that a Negri Sembilan Syariah law punishing transgenders for cross-dressing was unconstitutional.
On the issue of the nation's ailing investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Mahathir said Malaysia can still do well without it.
"1MDB was touted as a fund for the nation's wealth but it is not. Instead of serving as the nation's wealth, the fund has increased the country's debt. This money we have borrowed and when we borrow, it is necessary for us to pay the loan; hence, this is no longer wealth," he added.
Earlier in his keynote speech at the event, Mahathir stressed that the Quran is actually perfect; it was just its interpretations that can be wrong or become inaccurate over time due to the inability of coping with new ideas and realities.
"Unless we return to the Quran and restudy it while sincerely trying our best to understand it and make new interpretations in the face of the troubles and disasters assailing us, we will continue to decline."
The former premier then pointed out that some fatwas need to be reviewed as they were created long ago to the point of becoming irrelevant or inadequate and thus being ignored by many because of different interpretations on various Islamic injunctions.
"For example, portraits. Portraits used to be forbidden because people tended to idolise them. However, we cannot avoid having portraits anymore because of the prevalence of photography and television.
"The underlying point is that we don't worship those portraits as we only worship Allah, hence we are not breaching the teaching of our religion. So, the old fatwa cannot be carried out today," he stressed.