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20 May 2011

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's comments on LGBT spark online debate

"We recognise the importance of family and the institution of marriage. But we should not unduly harass or discriminate others. The answer is through education and PAS accepts this view," said Anwar Ibrahim in an online chat hosted by Yahoo Malaysia.

In a 75-minute live online chat hosted by Yahoo Malaysia on Thursday, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was asked if he thought lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) can look forward to a non-discriminatory environment should the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance), of which Anwar is the defacto leader, were to take Putrajaya.

To which Anwar said: "We recognise importance of family and the institution of marriage. But we should not unduly harass or discriminate others. The answer is through education and PAS accepts this view."

Should the coalition capture Putrajaya – the federal administrative centre of Malaysia, the Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS or Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) would be part of the federal government. PAS is currently one of three members of the coalition alongside the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and People's Justice Party (PKR). The coalition  currently controls four state governments while in opposition to the ruling Barisan Nasional at the federal level.

Malaysia's Yahoo News followed up with a story reporting that a chat thread posting by Malaysian sexuality rights group Seksualiti Merdeka on its Facebook page had sparked a lively debate with the group's co-founder Pang Khee Teik asking how Anwar would protect the community from discrimination and harassment.

Pang was quoted by Yahoo as saying: "It is fine to say we should not harass or discriminate, but the fact is that isn't going to stop harassment and discrimination until we put good policies in place."

He also added that he found the usage of the word 'unduly' to be curious. "Does this mean that there is an acceptable limit to harassing and discriminating others after which it becomes 'unduly'? Is it okay to 'duly' harass and discriminate?" he asked.

Pang in a Facebook status today drew attention to the fact that the Yahoo article titled "Anwar sparks FB debate on LGBT rights" has ironically caused a mini-stir with "lots of homophobic comments from Malaysians". He further urged his friends to "comment and show that Malaysia also has people who can accept diversity."

Anwar, 63, is curently facing trial on sodomy charges for the second time. He was imprisoned on separate sex and corruption charges in 1998, and freed in 2004 when the conviction was overturned. Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia, even among consenting adults.

Last year, a Malay-Muslim man who came out as gay in an online video attracted not only over 150,000 views on YouTube but also threatening comments and death threats.

Seksualiti Merdeka is planning to commemorate International Day Against Homophobia by screening a documentary about Asian LGBT movements and promoting the 29 Yogyakarta Principles, on May 29.

Read the Yahoo article here.

Editor's note (May 23, 2011): Parts of the chat was indeed in English including the second paragraph of this article that erroneously reported that it was originally in Malay. The article has been corrected. An excerpt of the chat transcript in English can be found here.

Malaysia

Reader's Comments

1. 2011-05-20 19:33  
I hope Malaysia moves forward with gay rights. The ultimate test of any country is how it treats its gay citizens. If they are treated well you can be assured that everybody is being treated well.
2. 2011-05-20 19:37  
Anwar is a wise man with words, and I think he is careful with his comments on LGBT rights in Malaysia. He is trying not to be seen as too much engaging in the fight for LGBT rights, as we know he himself is now facing a related charge (sodomy) that is wrong even among consenting LBGTs. But we should read the lines to safely imply that he did not comment anything negatively on the issue of LGBT rights in Malaysia..and it's realistic to hope for recognition of LGBT rights should Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance) takes over the government, at least...
3. 2011-05-21 05:30  
There's no doubt Dr Anwar is a great man, and most of us glbt in Malaysia have no doubt of his sincerity, but I hope he will be very,very wary of forming an alliance with the PAS...naturally they will promise anything to win votes, pardon my cynicism. But the fact that they are a HARDCORE Islamic party- raises a red flag; and is something we CANNOT afford to overlook, esp considering their previous aggressive attempts to impose the sharia as part of civil law in Malaysia.
Comment #4 was deleted by its author on 2011-05-26 15:28
5. 2011-05-21 13:34  
Gay rights in Malaysia? Gay Rights fall under the huge umbrella of Human Rights, which simply do not exist for local Malays. It’s just a system totally devoid of Human rights and Freedom of Choice, especially when it comes to religion.

Would we ever see the day of total Human Rights in Malaysia???
6. 2011-05-21 13:35  
Gay rights in Malaysia? Gay Rights fall under the huge umbrella of Human Rights, which simply do not exist for local Malays. It’s just a system totally devoid of Human rights and Freedom of Choice, especially when it comes to religion.

Would we ever see the day of total Human Rights in Malaysia???
7. 2011-05-21 13:39  
Gay rights in Malaysia? Gay Rights fall under the huge umbrella of Human Rights, which simply do not exist for local Malays. It’s just a system totally devoid of Human rights and Freedom of Choice, especially when it comes to religion.

Would we ever see the day of total Human Rights in Malaysia???
8. 2011-05-22 21:57  
Pang should have checked Anwar's original words in Malay (see transcript link above) before making an issue of the word "unduly" in the English translation.

Anwar said, "Namun, kami tidak sepatutnya mendiskriminasi mereka." A more accurate translation into English is: "Still, we should not discriminate against them."

Sounds quite straightforward to me.

Perhaps we should check out our facts before we "unduly" respond. ;)
9. 2011-05-23 18:42  
hunkacious, I am Pang. The chat was conducted in bilingual: Malay & English. The question on LGBTs and Anwar's answer to it happened to both be in English.
10. 2011-05-23 20:15  
My apologies for the error, Pang and hunkacious. An excerpt of the chat transcript in English can be found here: http://www.freemalaysiakini.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12288
11. 2011-05-25 01:12  
Ah I see. Thanks for the clarification, suede and Pang.

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