A Malaysian transgender woman recently shared her appreciation for the staff at the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) in Penang, commending their respectfulness and efficiency throughout the encounter.
In a Facebook post, Regina Ibrahim said she arrived at UTC Komtar at 8am to renew her passport but encountered an issue with her national identification card, which was damaged. She was immediately directed to the National Registration Department (NRD) to renew her IC.
An NRD officer, identified as Yazid, attended to her. Regina explained that she urgently needed to replace her IC in order to proceed with the passport renewal. As the process of issuing a new IC could take up to three weeks, Yazid advised her to apply for a temporary IC instead.
Throughout the process, Regina said that she and Yazid conversed in their local Penang dialect, not wanting to come across as too “posh”.
“This is a process I’m genuinely grateful for (imagine being in some remote country where such processes would be a nightmare).
“The counter officers were clearly well-informed about gender identity — they were no shocked or condescending expressions when dealing with a transgender woman,” she said in her post.
While having her photo taken for the temporary IC, Regina was asked to remove her makeup and jewellery — a standard procedure for all applicants. She understood this, but noted that Yazid apologised sincerely and ensured that her fingerprints and photo were approved by a supervising officer.
In the end the entire process took Regina over an hour. After she obtained her temporary IC, Regina returned to the Immigration counter to renew her passport, which took approximately less than an hour.
Once the process was complete, Regina shook Yazid’s hand and told him: “Thank you so much — you’ve been a great help.”
“Gender identity remains a sensitive matter in all official systems. Officers are often caught in between — trying to comply, accommodate objecting groups, show compassion, and navigate political stances on acceptance. It’s a tightrope.
“Still, the process was smooth and trouble-free — they’ve encountered thousands of trans individuals in their daily duties.
“We are all just trying to make a living and breathe,” she concluded.
