By:
Yap Suan Zi, Lim Siew Tong, Chai Jing Hsuan and Leong Zu Er
“Accept me
as I am, or forget it!” This word comes across their mind when people are
unwilling to accept their sexual orientation and tried so hard to “cure” their
“sickness”. Homosexuals, people attracted to the same sex, remain objectionable
by most of the people even until today.
However, more and more
Asian countries are starting to say “yes” to homosexuality. In Taiwan, the government came out with a bill to recognize same-sex
marriage in 2003. Even though the bill failed in the end due to the lack of
support to make it as a law, it shows that homosexual rights are part of the consideration
of Taiwan government.
In Vietnam, the government is in the
process of legalizing same-sex marriage. It might be the first Asian country to
recognise the marriage between homosexuals. It is good news for Vietnamese
homosexuals because their rights have been taken care of by their government.
Vietnam shows the world that it is a civilize country that respects the sexual
orientation of their people.
In
Singapore, more than 15,000 Singaporeans recently
held up pink lights in a park at night to show their support to homosexuality
in their country. How about in our homeland, Malaysia?
Homosexuality in Malaysia
Even though homosexuality remains as a controversial issue
in Malaysia, but there are few homosexuals willing to stand out to fight for their
rights.
In 2005, Jessie Chung or Zhong
Xuan Tai, a transsexual’s marriage came as a bombshell in Malaysia. Jessie
Chung, who was born as a male and had undergone transsexual operations
in 2004 finally agreed to marry Joshua Beh Soo
Kiang after rejecting his marriage proposal for six times.
The first ever reported lesbian marriage in Malaysia was in
year 2011. 29-years-old Thomas and 27-years-old Apple, a lesbian couple held a
traditional Chinese tea ceremony at their home in Batu Pahat, Johor. Most
the press in Malaysia had published their news on the front page of the
newspaper at that time.
Ngeo Boon Lin, who also goes
by his pen name O.Young or Ouyang Wen Feng, is the first openly gay pastor in
Malaysia. In 2006, he ended up his nine-year marriage and officially announced to
the public that he is a gay. He got married with Phineas Newborn III, an
African-American Broadway musical producer in New York last year and came back
to Malaysia to for a traditional wedding banquet in Kuala Lumpur this year. "I
wanted to inspire others to speak the truth and to stand up for our
rights," he told the press.
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First
gay wedding in Malaysia: Ngeo (right) and his
husband Phineas Newborn III (left) conducted a traditional wedding banquet in
Kuala Lumpur on 4 August 2012. (Photo taken from huffingtonpost.com).
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However, homosexuality is still unacceptable in Malaysia. There is an Islamic law - Federal
Territory Syariah Criminial Offences Act 1997, used
to punish the homosexuals. Muslims will be sentence to canning in jail for up
to twenty years and or whipping if they are involve in any homosexuality
activities.
Last year, “Seksualiti Merdeka”, an annual
festival to promote sexuality rights in Malaysia since 2008, was banned by the government
with the reason that it is a deviationist activity that could demolish the
practice of religious freedom. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Deputy Prime Minister
Malaysia even said that it is a “non-beneficial” event and is a waste of time.
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Seksualiti
Merdeka: An event in Malaysia that focuses on
the human rights of people with diverse sexual orientations and gender
identities. (Photo taken from suarapakatanrakyat.com)
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Last month, Prime Minister Najib Razak said
that homosexual, bisexual and transsexual are part of a
"deviant culture" that should "not have any places in this
country”. He also said that LGBT community along
with liberalism and pluralism are the enemies of
Islam.
Malaysia’s
opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim related homosexuality with other
vice activities such as free sex and gambling in a BBC interview. He also
agreed at a High Court hearing that homosexuals
should be discriminated against to protect the sanctity of marriage. However,
he pointed out that archaic laws should be reviewed to avoid innocent people
from being punished.
Homosexuality was also discussed in Dewan
Rakyat this year. Mashitah Ibrahim, Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s
Department, defined homosexuality as a “social problem” and announced that
government is cooperating with several NGOs to conduct anti-homosexuals
campaigns recently.
Baharum Mohamad, Sekijang MP claimed that three out of every
ten Malaysian males are gay and thus he
suggested to the government that Malaysia should set up a rehab centre for the
homosexuals. Moreover, Mohd Nizar Zakaria, Parit MP classified
homosexuality as a “mental problem”, which homosexuals are the people who are trapped
in the wrong body.
As a human being
with emotions and feelings, we said it proudly that love is guiltless, but why
is love a wrong doing, a shame or even a sin when it happens between two men or
two women? Is it because they are the minority group in the society so we can label
them as abnormal and thus reject them?
The Voices
“It gets very hard to acknowledge myself and to tell the world who I am, because
we are still perceived as the abnormal people in the world, which is very
unfair to us,” said Ms. C.J., who tried to reveal her homosexual identity to
her friends before, but it always caused unpleasant experiences to her. Because
of her honesty, one of her friends warned her directly to the face, and announced
that it was the end of their friendship and did not want to contact her
anymore.
“Homosexuality
is not a disease, not a mental problem and not a psychology problem. APA
(American Psychiatric Association) has declared that homosexuality is not a
disease even in 1973. But why people still think that we are sick and reject
us?” said Yuriko, a psychology student, who found herself as homosexual since
secondary school.
“We’re
just born this way!” said Joseph Yong, who found his first boyfriend when he
was 17-years-old. They finally broke up because his partner could not cope with
the pressure. “It was very hurtful when he said that we just can’t be
together,” he drew a sign after saying it.
“It may take some time for the Malaysian society to
accept homosexuality since sex education also faces oppositions in Malaysia,”
said Ang Siew Mun, a senior lecturer who has a Master
in Sociology.
There
are many text books in America, from primary level to university level, that have
included the topic of homosexuality in their syllabus. However, Malaysians are only
exposed to homosexuality when they are at university level when most of the
private universities are using American text book. Due to this reason, most
Malaysians do not have much knowledge about homosexuality. They tend to rely on
distorted facts about homosexuals and thus refuse to accept them even until
now.
“There
should be proper education to let the people know that homosexuals are shaped
by genetic components and thus we should accept them,” Ang emphasizes.
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Ang:
We should accept homosexuals because they
are shaped by genetic components and it is not their fault.
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Homosexuals
are just as normal as we are; the only different is that they have a unique sexual
orientation. Think before you point your finger at them. Please do not violate
the rights for an individual to choose their love. Be fair to the minority and
stand up for them. Please accept homosexuals as who they are.
