The Malaysian government has abruptly pulled funding of a transgender group amid a national uproar after a court found a state cross-dressing ban unconstitutional.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry informed Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial (PBKS) it would not renew funding for 2015 earlier this month.

The ministry has given the group RM700,000 ($199,880) a year for the last seven years, directly from 2007 to 2013 and last year through the Malaysian AIDS Council.

Mitch Yusmar Yusof, senior manager of PBKS, said the NGO completely relied on the funding.

‘What will happen to the community?’ he asked the Malay Mail Online.

In a letter dated 4 December, the ministry told the Malaysian AIDS Council it had not approved funding for PBKS next year.

‘In line with that, [the ministry] wishes to express our deepest appreciation and thanks for the Malaysian AIDS Council’s cooperation in helping the ministry operate PBKS for 2014,’ wrote Che Samsuzuki Che Noh, secretary of the ministry’s national social policy division.

‘The ministry hopes that the good working relationship between MAM and the ministry will continue in future.’

No reasons were given for the government’s decision to stop funding PBKS.

However, it could be a reaction to the uproar that followed a court ruling last month that scrapped scrapped a state Sharia ban on cross-dressing.