Hanoi — Vietnam will, under a draft decree, permit transgender people to undergo sexual transformation operation, from next January, according to local newspaper Saigon Liberation on Monday. Under the draft decree recently submitted to the government by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, transgender people, whose psychological self differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with (for example, a female with a masculine gender identity or who identifies as a man), and people having unclear gender identity, can undergo the operation. After the operation, they will have new gender identity. If approved, the decree will take effect on Jan. 1, 2007. Citation Pliny Han (2006).Vietnam may allow sexual transformation operation. China View, http://www.mtra.org.au/press/06/1009.html