Brunei transgender teen seeks asylum in Canada after passing of Islamic laws to punish gays, adultery and rape with death
- The laws, elements of which were first adopted in 2014, have been rolled out in the country of 400,000, stirring international outrage
- In 2014, she heard about two people fined and jailed for cross-dressing and knew she had to flee. Now in Canada, she hopes for a permanent new home
The laws, elements of which were first adopted in 2014, have been rolled out in the country of 400,000, stirring international outrage.
“I just did not feel safe with my family,” said Zayce, who knew from childhood that she was transgender. At 11 or 12, she remembers being forced to visit a cleric who performed a ritual she described as an exorcism or cleansing. “I was traumatised.”
In 2014, she heard about two people fined and jailed for cross-dressing: “I knew I had to leave very soon.”
She chose Canada because it was far from Brunei. She thought it would be too expensive for her family or the authorities to come after her. Canada also had the reputation as an open society with strong protections for human rights.
Gays face death by stoning in Brunei, the ‘Saudi of Southeast Asia’. Really?
She works full time at an office doing data entry, and on the side as a maths tutor.
“It’s been very busy for me and I’m glad I can support myself and do not have to rely on the government,” she said.
I just want to let the world know that if I do get sent back to Brunei, I wouldn’t mind dying back there
She hopes to find a boyfriend and to eventually study computer science.
Zayce hopes for a secular Brunei in which the Sultan would abdicate and make way for democracy and more freedom.
Brunei has defended its right to implement the laws. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, who has ruled the oil-rich country for 51 years, is one the wealthiest people in the world.
Brunei’s embassy in Ottawa was not immediately available for comment.
The international community could help by applying trade sanctions against Brunei or scuttling the royal family’s investments around the world, Zayce said.
Brunei’s LGBT residents struggle with dating and religion, amid new death by stoning law
But mostly, she is concerned with making her own voice heard, even though it means she may never be able to return to her country.
“I just want to let the world know that if I do get sent back to Brunei, I wouldn’t mind dying back there,” she said, starting to cry. “If I do go back, I would have at least lived a good life … on my own terms.”
