Kak Juwie's amazing adventure
http://www.mmail.com.my/Current_News/mm/Wednesday/Opinions/20080716100552/Article/index_html
7/16/2008
Juwie was born with the name Abdul Jalil Salleh and she is now one of the bestknown figures in the Malay entertainment scene. She has been writing for the pop scene, both as print journalist and song lyricist, for decades. This, her first book, came out when she was still in her 20s and considered 'Kak' rather than the 'Mama' Juwie of today.
Growing up, he could feel he was different from the other boys. His teenage years included a suicide attempt and a spell at a psychiatric ward. Although he wanted a sex-change, his parents wouldn't hear of it, so he is still legally male. She considers herself to be a spiritual hermaphrodite rather than a woman or a drag queen, so it's apposite for this column to switch gender pronouns rather than stick to just one, don't you think? The terms khunsa (hermaphrodite) and mak nyah (->-bleeped-<-) are used almost interchangeably in this book, which takes the form of a picaresque journey through several locations and boyfriends.