Group of LGBT individuals fighting for their rights at a protest while waving the LGBT flag.
Source: Malaysiakini
With the recent Buzz Lightyear movie getting banned in Malaysia due to a same-sex kissing scene, it shows that Malaysia takes LGBT seriously. Prime Minister-Muhyiddin Yasin was reported in Sinar Harian, describing the LGBT community as a threat to Islam that has been influenced by westerners and a disorder that needs therapy.
In July 2020, the religious affairs minister, Zulkifli Mohamad, posted on Facebook a full license to the Federal Territory Islamic Department (JAWI) officers to arrest any Muslim LGBT individuals so they can be ‘counselled’ and ‘educated’ back on the ‘right path’. Due to the belief that Muslim LGBT individuals should be rehabilitated, the Federal Islamic Affairs Department (JAKIM) and other state Islamic sectors established camps known as, mukhayyam.
Mukhayyam are known as conversion camps for the LGBT community so they can ‘recover’ from their ‘disease’. MalayMail reported that LGBT individuals, mainly transgenders, participated in the camp to explore their spirituality but it eventually ended up as an agenda of reforming them. As of June 2021, the government reported that at least 1,733 people attended the camps when the programme was first initiated in 2012.
Maya (a pseudonym), a 22-year-old business advisor from the LGBTQ community in Malaysia came out as bisexual when she was in highschool. Being in a Muslim household, it is impossible to inform her family regarding her identity and sexual preferences.
“Conversion camps are not places you should be sending your LGBT kids to because you have no idea what they are capable of doing to your kids and you would have no control over it,” said Maya.
Influenced by the purpose of conversion camps, the discrimination towards the LGBT community is also deeply rooted by conservative families in the society. These families would pressure their kids into heterosexual marriages to prevent same-sex attraction and to be reformed back to its identity and gender given by birth.
SAYS reported that there are Islamic spiritual healings offered for LGBT individuals who are required to go to centres such as, Manarah Islamic Medical Centre which is recognised by the Health Ministry's National Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) Policy. These treatments enforced by conversion camps are based only on belief that illnesses are caused by supernatural beings.
The five stages of “treatment” given to LGBT individuals at conversion camps.
Source: SAYS
“Conversion camps are not publicly known but if you are a Muslim and are part of the LGBT community, you would have heard of it,” said Maya regarding the tabloids not giving much coverage on mukhayyams.
“It seems like conversion camps are kept unknown to the public as a way to hide the LGBT community and completely erase its existence in the country,” she said.
These camps could not run on its own without financial support by the government to reform the LGBT individuals. Therefore, the rights advocacy group, Parti Socialis Malaysia, said that these methods used in camps could harm the community psychologically and should have been consulted by professionals to educate the public on LGBTQ.
“Being part of the LGBT community is already tough in Malaysia but instead of sending us to camps where we would be scarred by being ourselves and more prone to suicide, it is best to educate the public first on LGBTQ.” said Maya.
*Real names have been concealed to protect anonymity*
Comentários