LFL accuses deputy minister of using LGBT to distract from real issues

 

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has accused de facto Religious Affairs Deputy Minister Ahmad Marzuk Shaary of using the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to distract from real issues.

This is after Ahmad Marzuk (photo, above) said the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) would be strengthened to meet out heavier punishment against the LGBT community.

"(This) is nothing more than a tired and cheap political ploy to detract from the real issues currently affecting Malaysian citizens," LFL coordinator Zaid Malek said today.

"This is especially more obvious when we consider the fact that Malaysian Muslims are still in a state of shock and confusion by the 40-year-long halal meat cartel scandal that was exposed quite recently, yet the spotlight is again cast on the LGBT instead," he added.

The halal meat cartel scandal involved the alleged smuggling of dubious meats that were then sold as halal products.

Yesterday, Ahmad Marzuk said amending Act 355 was necessary to correct the "wrongdoings" of the LGBT community.

Zaid, however, questioned how heavier punishment would achieve this.

Instead, he said this is targeted harassment that would violate LGBT's constitutional rights to be treated equally before the law.

Ahmad Marzuk's stance against the LGBT comes two weeks after cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman - who is a transwoman - claimed ill-treatment and assault on Jan 6, while being investigated by several Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) officers at its headquarters in Shah Alam.

Zaid said the authorities should not target non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people to create an illusion of false piety.

"We strongly advise the authorities not to resort to periodically using the LGBT community as a convenient punching bag to create the illusion of rectitude and false piety in certain political parties that comprise the government.

"The vilification of the LGBT/transgender community serves to help no one, and will only harm the very citizens that it is supposed to protect," he said.

Zaid also called on the government to follow the examples of other Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Iran, which allow sexual reassignment surgeries, and also Pakistan, which has enacted a law to protect transgenders. - Mkini