Transgender man’s shock acquittal and other U-turns

HE WANTED the world to see him as a man. But yesterday (April 12), Zunika Ahmad got off when a judge decided to drop sexual penetration charges against him because “he” was technically still a woman in the court’s eyes.

The case came to light last December when the 39-year-old pled guilty to having sex with an underaged girl, but the judge postponed sentencing as the case was unprecedented here in Singapore. Yesterday’s ruling was considered a landmark judgement even as members of the legal society said it was time to review the Penal Code so that offences are “gender neutral”.

As for Zunika, who had started living as a man since he was 16 years old, he said he was relieved to be cleared of the sexual penetration charges and would seek gender reassignment surgery after serving eight months on a lesser charge.

After decades of asking to be treated fairly – just as any mother would be in the eyes of the G – unwed mothers will receive the same benefits as married mothers from next year, which include 16 weeks of maternity leave and other cash and tax incentives.

The shift in policy was announced in Parliament yesterday by Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who acknowledged the difficulty of being a single parent but said the move should not undermine “parenthood within marriage”.

Speaking of making U-turns, drivers of Uber and Grab will have to be licensed from next year. They will also have to go for medical tests and be subject to background screenings. Taxi groups have been calling for more G regulation to protect their livelihood and fend off the competition ever since such private-hire car companies roared onto the scene in recent years.

But banning such services would be going the wrong way, said Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan. “We should seek to achieve a win-win for both the disrupters and the incumbents,” he added.

 

Featured image from TMG file. 

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