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Walk the talk on LGBT stance, Muhyiddin told

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Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng says the prime minister should not just be paying lip service to an international audience.

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Lim Lip Eng wonders whether Muhyiddin Yassin was serious about his speech on enacting stronger laws against those who harass others over their sexual orientation.

PETALING JAYA:
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin should walk the talk on hate speech against minorities, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng says.

Speaking at the 1st Asean Digital Ministers Meeting today, Muhyiddin said Asean countries could consider enacting stronger laws against hate speech, including harassment over one’s sexual orientation.

His speech came days after the deputy minister in the prime minister’s department (religious affairs) Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said the government was mulling heavier punishments against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT).

“I wonder whether Muhyiddin is serious about his speech if he has done nothing to contain such speeches (as those by Marzuk), even if it is done by two of his strongest coalition partners,” said Lim in a statement.

“As the Malay proverb goes, ‘seperti ketam menyuruh anaknya berjalan betul’ (like the crab teaching its child to walk straight), Muhyiddin has to walk the talk and must not only pay lip service to his international counterparts.”

Lim said Muhyiddin and his government should enact specific laws to deal with hate speech as proposed by the National Unity Consultative Council.

Activists weigh in

Activists such as Siti Kasim and Michelle Yesudas have also criticised Muhyiddin’s speech, with the former sarcastically calling it a “great intention”.

“Start with your own in your PM office that just announced harsher punishments for the LGBT community,” said the lawyer on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Yesudas said Muhyiddin cannot urge regional mechanisms to improve and harmonise legislation on hate speech to protect transgender people while the country’s own administration is “harassing, targeting and arresting” them on a daily basis during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A legal adviser to the International Commission of Jurists, Yesudas also asked whether Muhyiddin would now hold his ministers accountable for making statements asking LGBT persons to “change” or to criminally enforce laws targeting LGBT persons.

“This falls squarely into Muhyiddin’s proposal,” she said on Twitter.

“If Muhyiddin hadn’t made his announcement at a time where Sajat was being dragged on a daily basis by state authorities, ministers weren’t announcing heavier punishments for LGBT people (and) we weren’t in an emergency, I would have wondered if he was the most queer-friendly PM.

“I mean, how many PMs have actually acknowledged the existence of sexual orientation without self-righteous, rehabilitative terms? Without a sodomy criminal charge! Muhyiddin just did!”

Cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat, was yesterday charged with bringing Islam into contempt by dressing up as a woman at a religious event three years ago.

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