Malaysia: A Muslim rights group says protecting the rights of the LGBT community in Malaysia is un-Islamic and must be fought.
The LGBT community which “practices same-sex relationships” needed to be fought and punished and protecting the rights of that community would mean the country was giving the group “recognition,” said Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s ulama council chairman Associate Professor Dr Aznan Hasan.
Failure to do so would bring on the wrath of Allah and His retribution would be very heavy on Earth and in the afterlife, Aznan said, according to a report in sg.news.yahoo.com.
Aznan was commenting on the National Unity Consultative Council Law and Policy working committee chairman Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa who in a recent statement said that a person could not be discriminated because of his sexual orientation.
Mujahid and his committee had drafted three new bills – the Racial and Religious Hate Crimes Bill, the National Harmony and Reconciliation Bill and the National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Bill.
However, these bills have come under severe criticism from Muslim hardliners, who want a clause which protects the rights of sexual minorities removed, the report said.
Aznan maintains that while that Islam did not discriminate people based on gender, the religion never recognized the LGBT sexual orientation as acceptable.
“Accepting them who are LGBT and not taking any action against them will be like recognizing their wayward sexual wishes and wants,” he was quoted as saying.
He said Mujahid should realize that Allah would severely punish those who were into LGBT practices.
“When one is convicted of LGBT practices, he or she has to go through the necessary judgment process, not because of discrimination but because they have done it.
“He or she cannot be left just like that after doing the crime,” he said. He added tha Mujahid’s statement implies that those involved in sodomy should not be punished.
Mujahid, in an interview with a news portal recently, had insisted that protecting the rights of minorities did not mean giving them “recognition.”
“This has nothing to do with endorsing the LGBT community. The clause simply says one cannot be discriminated because of one’s sexual orientation. This does not mean recognition. If someone is gay and is fired from his job because of that, then it is not right. That is what we are looking at,” Mujahid was quoted as saying.
Human rights activists have called on his council to stand firm and not bow to pressure from Muslim groups and politicians.
Same-sex relations is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia and is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
Source: sg.news.yahoo.com
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