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Malaysian lawmaker urges public to lodge complaints against gay clubs to facilitate raids

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 10 Sep 2018

Malaysian lawmaker urges public to lodge complaints against gay clubs to facilitate raids

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian minister has urged the public to come forward and register complaints against gay clubs, to facilitate raid and searches, reports said.

In the light of the recent raid at the famous Blue Boy in Kuala Lumpur, the national capital, Federal Territories Deputy Minister Datuk Shahruddin Md Salleh was quoted in the media as saying that six more gay clubs have been located, which are actively running in the city.

"We welcome complaints from the public to initiate raids and operations,” he reportedly said in the Dewan Negara here.

“I understand Blue Boy Club is famous across the world by offering its services on social media. Blue Boy is known because European tourists’ taste is for Asians," the minister added.

Salleh said that his ministry is keeping a close eye on gay clubs to prevent any untoward acts.

The Blue Boy Club was raided on Aug 18 in an operation jointly conducted by police, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, National Anti-Drug Agency and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department.

Reacting to report, FT Minister Khalid Samad said that the operation was conducted in order to curb the spreading of LGBTQ culture in Malaysia.

"The government is very serious in dealing with this radical belief. Hopefully this initiative can mitigate the LGBT culture from spreading into our society," his statements, published on the ministry's Facebook page read.

The Malaysian government has been openly hostile towards the LGBTQ community, at times refusing to acknowledge the latter's existence.

Last week, two women were lashed six times each in public, for indulging in lesbian car sex, at the country's Terengganu Syariah Court.

The two women, aged 22 and 32, were sentenced to public lashing by the court after they confessed to their crime.

They were arrested by Islamic enforcement officers in April for violating Shariah laws.

Over a 100 people gathered to watch the order being carried out, which has been described as 'cruel and unjust'.

Apart from the caning, they were fined 3,300 ringgit (797 USD) each.

Meanwhile, Muslim Lawyers Association deputy president Abdul Rahim Sinwan justified the punishment, stating that it wasn't humiliation.

"Humiliation is out of the question, to hurt the person is out of the question. They were brought through different doors, they were taken out through different doors, as the purpose is not to humiliate the person,” he told Malay Mail.

“Now, basically when you talk about caning in Shariah courts, the fallacy among people outside is that the caning is meant to hurt the person. That’s the fallacy.

“In Shariah caning, it is not meant to hurt the person. It is to educate the person. Therefore it’s not painful, it’s not harsh. It’s not meant to hurt the person," he said.

The punishment lasted approximately 20 minutes.

 

Image: Muhamad Izzuan/Google Photo