Malaysians debate ban of Gay Rights festival

Fresh from banning a controversial sex guide by the pro-polygamy Obedient Wives Club, Malaysia has also now banned a gay rights festival, triggering heated debates across the country.

The Seksualiti Merdeka (“Sexuality Independence”) festival has been held annually since 2008 to celebrate the rights of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. This year’s festival, originally scheduled for four days starting Nov. 9 in Kuala Lumpur, was organized by nongovernmental organizations, artists and activists, and was supposed to have talks, book launches, art exhibitions and musical performances.

But Deputy Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur that the festival couldn’t go on this year.

“We are not against the people’s right to freedom of speech or human rights. However, if the event creates uneasiness among the vast majority of the population, it may result in disharmony, enmity and threaten public order,” he said. The decision came amid reports that Muslim groups would protest the event, according to the Associated Press.

Arousing homophobic sentiments

In a statement released Saturday, the festival’s organizers said they wouldn’t proceed with the events in light of the ban but would seek an audience with the police to explain the event’s objectives. “The blanket ban on Seksualiti Merdeka’s programme this year is unprecedented,” the statement said, adding, “the Malaysian government should uphold our right to conduct peaceful forums, workshops and performances.”

Pang Khee Teik, the festival’s co-founder, said he believes the event fell prey to pressure from conservative political groups, which have opposed the promotion of alternative lifestyles in the predominantly-Muslim nation.

Conservative groups have tried to “arouse homophobic sentiments,” he said in a phone interview. “Malaysia basically has no qualms about … creating more discrimination towards people who are doing no harm in order to get political mileage,” he said.

The 37-year-old Mr Pang said he decided to help start the festival after attending a similar event in Singapore, which criminalizes homosexual acts, though the rules aren’t widely enforced. “We realized it would be a shame if we did not also do it in Malaysia,” he said.

In 2008, an estimated 400 to 500 people attended the festival. Last year, as many as 1,500 people attended, he said.

Ibrahim Ali and animal culture

Well-known activist Ambiga Sreenevasan, who was to launch the festival, said in a statement that the aim of the event was to give lesbians, gays and other Malaysians “a voice and a platform to highlight the discrimination that they face in their daily lives,” adding, “it is not an event to encourage homosexuality.”

Homosexuality is not explicitly prohibited in Malaysia. But it is against the law to engage in sodomy, which is punishable by imprisonment.

The government-owned Malay daily newspaper Utusan Malaysia reported the chief of Malaysia’s conservative Perkasa organization Ibrahim Ali as saying Seksualiti Merdeka is trying to promote “animal culture” among the people and urged the authorities to take firm action against the organizers of the event, as they posed a threat to Islam. The article was reprinted on Perkasa’s website and a spokesman for the party confirmed the comments were accurately reported.

“I am mindful of the position of the major religions as to the issue of homosexuality,” Ms Ambiga, the activist, said. “But this does not mean that we cannot show understanding and sensitivity to a marginalized community who suffer oppression and mental and even physical abuse, because of who they are,” she said. “It does not mean that they have no rights.”

'End of human genetics'

Malaysia has long debated how to approach the question of homosexuality in the country, which is widely seen in some parts of the world as a leader among moderate Muslim nations despite ongoing tensions between conservative groups and Malaysians who want to practice a looser interpretation of Islam.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal several weeks ago, opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia PAS youth leader Nasarudin Hassan Tantawi said that “if there are male and male relations, or female and female relations, this will be the end of the human genetics.” He added, “we see same-sex relationship as a negative culture, a disgraceful culture, a culture that must not be imitated in our country.”

The festival has drawn support from a number of groups and well-known individuals, including the Malaysian Bar Council and documentary filmmaker and activist Norhayati Kaprawi. In an email from abroad, she said the event “provides support and empowers men and women who have been discriminated due to their sexuality and sexual orientation.”

Muslim NGO Sisters in Islam, which supports the rights of Muslim women, likewise disagreed with the police ban.

“While we understand that there are Muslims opposed to ideas of respecting gender and sexual diversity, as a Muslim women’s organization, Sisters in Islam disagrees with methods used to stifle these ideas,” said the group in a statement.

- WSJ