Two years after divorce, teachers’ transfer bid approved

Compiled by BEH YUEN HUI, MARTIN CARVALHO and R. ARAVINTHAN

TWO teachers’ requests to the Education Ministry for a transfer was approved only two years after their divorce, Harian Metro reported.

The man, wishing to be known only as Din, 41, said that in 2017, he was teaching in a primary school in Kota Kinabalu while his then-wife was in Sarawak.

“In the first year of our marriage, we asked for a transfer to the peninsula.

“At that time, we did not mind if we were not transferred back to our home state, just as long as we were based in schools in the same state,” he told the daily.

Din said he and his former spouse had tried to get their transfer for several years, including by going personally to the ministry in Putrajaya to submit their applications, but to no avail.

“During those years of our marriage, we only met up during school holidays,” he said, adding that financial constraints were also a factor resulting in their split.

Din said their applications for a transfer were finally approved in 2022, two years after their divorce.

He claimed that there are many married couples facing a similar predicament as “guru duka lara” (sad, anguished teachers).

> A 21-year-old woman from Kluang, Johor, with a seemingly masculine voice has left social media users baffled and questioning if she is actually a cross-dresser, Harian Metro reported.

This is the situation faced by Nurnazrah Abd Samad, who is often mistaken for a man and assumed to have altered her voice using a voiceover application merely to attract more views on TikTok and X, formerly Twitter.

Nurnazrah said her voice started becoming hoarse when she was 18.

“I have no idea why it happened. I have seen a doctor, who found no problems with my voice box or tonsils.

“I accept it as a gift from God with an open heart,” she told the daily.

She added that her voice might have turned hoarse due to her love of singing high-pitched songs while screaming.

Nurnazrah said she is often forced to show her MyKad while on TikTok to prove her gender as a woman.

She added that she was also made to show childhood photographs of herself with her adoptive parents.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.