The Malaysian Insight

DEPUTY Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said as a Muslim, she does not support the LGBT community.

“The most important thing for us as Muslims is that it is haram. I do not condone it. I do not say it is okay,” she told radio station BFM in an interview this morning.

She was asked whether the Pakatan Harapan government adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in relation to the LGBT community.

Dr Wan Azizah previously said members of the community should keep their lifestyle private.

Asked if PH would abolish the sodomy law, she said the coalition had not discussed it.

“It was used against my husband (Anwar Ibrahim), but it wasn’t used against anyone else. In Islam, the religion of the federation, certain things are difficult for me to cross.”

Critics have argued that Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises same-sex intercourse, is a British relic.

The UK decriminalised homosexual acts between consenting men above the age of 21 in 1967.

LGBT rights became a hot issue after activist Numan Afifi resigned from Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s press team last month due to public pressure from conservatives.

The community again made headlines when portraits of activists Nisha Ayub and Pang Khee Teik were removed from a photography exhibition at the George Town Festival earlier this month, on the order of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

On both occasions, Mujahid, who is in charge of Islamic affairs, said LGBT folk should not be discriminated against at the workplace.

Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh and human rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan issued a joint statement on August 19, condemning hate crime against the LGBT community after a transgender was assaulted by a group of men in Seremban this month.

The victim suffered broken ribs, and back and head injuries that required 12 stitches.

Dr Wan Azizah is also women, family and community development minister, with Yeoh as her deputy. – August 30, 2018.