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Halloween Raid at REXKL. What Went Down
The inaugural SHAVE event by Shagrilla was raided on 30 October which led to people that included transgenders and drag queens being detained. The raid was intense as the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi), and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) were in attendance.
When we spoke to our source who attended the party, they said, “What was supposed to be a fun party quickly turned into a traumatising event.”
He also shared that the authorities had asked for identification from whoever was Malay and in drag and then asked to line up and later detained. Some of those in line were subjected to urine tests while the other attendees were also held in the venue by authorities temporarily but were later released.
20 men between the ages of 22 and 34 were detained by Jawi under Section 28 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 which states that ‘Any male person who, in any public place, wears a woman's attire and poses as a woman for immoral purposes shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.’
A Twitter user shared an image of the men being transported to Jawi for investigation in a PDRM truck, also known as Black Marias.
20 people are being transported to JAWI for investigation in Black Maria truck. pic.twitter.com/yNclGCpH2I— Numan Afifi (@NumanAfifi) October 29, 2022
These men were later released after the Magistrate rejected requests to remand them.
There was public outcry after the news of the raid came out as it was seen to target the LGBTQ+ community specifically.
Many Malaysians have stood up in solidarity with the community, especially the men who were investigated.
Instagram user Shahrezzan Ezani, who attended the party, shared his anger and sadness over the incident.
He said, “I haven’t been able to have peace of mind ever since the raid at REXKL last night. What happened last night at REXKL was injustice to the people of Malaysia. If you say last night wasn’t a representation of the people of Malaysia then you’re seriously out of touch. The youth, the working class, the law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of this country were detained, segregated and judged and questioned all simply based on our appearance last night.”
REXKL has also issued a statement that said “REXKL has been and always will be, a creative, welcoming, and, most importantly, inclusive space for the Malaysian public. We will stand with our community and will not tolerate prejudice of any kind.”
To date everyone who was remanded has been let go on bail.
Image credit: @tnahssin, @NumanAfifi
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