BERNAMA And The "Homosexual".

Today, former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim takes the stands to refute the allegations that he committed sodomy. Those who are well-versed with the Malaysian political scenario would probably realise this is the federal government’s attempt to black face an opposition leader. The man involved was allegedly sodomized by Anwar 8 times. That means it is consensual. So I am not going to dwell on whether it happened or not, or whether Anwar is indeed a gay man. What I will focus on is this: does sexual orientation really prohibits a person from fulfilling his duties to a nation? Does it really matter?

Well, according to the Malaysian National New Agency (BERNAMA), homosexuality matters. So why is that? Because there is some kind of contagious morality disease that had swept the West and its octopus-like tentacles are stretching far out to our beloved South-East Asia, to the land called Malaysia. Now, Malaysia is proud of its first class facilities and infrastructures, but no doubt it is an embarrassment for having third class mentality. How? By having their news agency calling homosexual (noun, describing a sexual orientation) as homosexual (noun, some disease form of malignant moral cancer that acts out on unsavoury behaviour). They went as far as stating that the “cancer” is infectious.

Let us see some of the awe-inspiring comments mustered out by BERNAMA:

The term homosexual is also used for the same-sex sexual relation between persons of the same sex who are not gay or lesbian. (emphasis added)

What is that? Homosexuals are neither gay or lesbian? The report writer Ms. Melati Mohd Ariff already placed one huge foot into her mouth before she even got to her point. At least we can see now just what an educated authority in terms of homosexuality this writer is:

In the West, the morally wrong and corrupt homosexual act has turned into a sort of plague, spreading its tentacles far and wide, engulfing individuals with the tendency of adopting this immoral self-indulgence.

Wow, blame the West. So the western visitors started a homosexual plague? So is the Tourism Ministry going to ban westerners from traveling here, since they started it?

In the country today, the gay lifestyle is believed to have sprouted rampantly. A point to note is the mushrooming of the gay clubs.

So there are no problems with the mushrooming of straight clubs. Women dressed to kill looking for men with whisky’s, men who are looking for sex in clubs, girls some as young as their teens soliciting money and offering sex. And again, it is getting annoying. What is the “gay lifestyle”? Especially when even the new song by Usher blurted out “I wanna make love in this club!” Is the "straight lifestyle" much holier and great? If not, then why Ms. Melati not do a piece on the “straight lifestyle”. Ban all MTVs, stop romantic movies on show!

Datuk Dr. Maamor Osman is the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) secretary-general:

On the health aspect, Dr Maamor said homosexuals who indulge in anal intercourse are prone to various risks.

"As this system is not for erroneous acts, it invites various risks like Aids, hepatitis, haemorrhoids and septicemia (bacterial infection of the blood)), said Dr Maamor, adding that this unnatural sex act also draws various sexually transmitted diseases".

And again, lesbians are not spared. The word sodomy by the way basically means “anal sex”. That means even heterosexuals indulge in it. But Dr. Maamor said it so blatantly like only homosexuals do it there. It is like sodomy only happens for homosexuals. Dr. Maamor totally overlooked this fact: homosexuals can be women. Yes, get an education Dr. Maamor. Lesbians are still the safest in sex among subsets of all sexual orientations. The Centre of Disease Control even recommends lesbians not to have sex with straight men!

Factsheet from the Centers Of Disease Control And Prevention:
"Health care providers need to remember that sexual identity does not necessarily predict behavior and that some women who identify themselves as WSW or lesbian may be at risk for HIV infection through unprotected sex with men. (emphasis added)"

Yusri Mohamad is the The Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) president:

"There is no difference between a homosexual act and adultery. Hence, severe punishment should be handed down against homosexuals. Prevention and punishment must be executed", said Yusri...

...Yusri calls on the authorities to conduct raids, akin to that held for drug-prevention operations at nightspots and entertainment centres.

Hence, the government is seen as taking stern and firm action to curb this moral
decadence, unlike the western nations that provide the so-called freedom to such debauchery.

Now if there are really great dirts in the language, this is it. Mr. Yusri should be excused for not knowing the differences. Sexual orientations have nothing to do with adulterous behaviour. Homosexuals are just as heterosexuals, both can choose to be faithful to their partners or otherwise, is it not so? So just where is the “no difference"? And again I stress, would the raids arrest girls and guys who may be attempting to have sex later? As for the “so-called freedom to such debauchery“, there is a name to it. It is called living in integrity as who they are, to love and live in liberty and equality as anyone else in the world. The human right to love and cherish the one they love. Again, the right to love.

Datuk A. Vaithilingam is the Malaysian Hindu Sangham president:

Vaithilingam calls on parents to exercise caution in and give the issue a serious look in the efforts to prevent their children from being trapped in the homosexual clutches.

He said the community should be exposed to education and counselling on the homosexual topic to create awareness among the public on the ills and evils of this felony.

Serious attention should also be given against illicit sexual relations in order to prevent it from becoming a menace to the society.

I could only see one laughable point here. Just how do homosexuals clutch children? So, does that mean if a straight 13 year old boy watches porn that involves lesbians, the boy would automatically be gay? Or a 13 year old girl watches on what involves gays, they will be lesbians? Just from where he gets research that the homosexuals had their “grasp” on children is beyond me. Speaking of education, I wonder from where did he get this ultimately pseudo-theory from. “Ills and evils of this felony?” So just what is so ill and evil about it? How does it become a “menace to society"? So does he mean, when somewhere in the world two lesbians make love in bed, someone would suddenly rob Mr. Vaithilingam? When two gays go out dating, someone will attempt to rape Ms. Melati? Absurd!

In this context, Dr Maamor concurs with Vaithilingam that the parents need to boost their knowledge in order to shoulder the immense task of preventing their offsprings from being drawn into the evils of homosexual acts.

Parents should not feel embarrassed if they ask for advice and counselling from the
experts to overcome this issue.

Again; evils of “homosexual acts”? There are some problems when both insist, that when people are in love, it is “evil”. That is no longer a commentary. It is hate-mongering towards a specific group of people. That is marginalizing an already misunderstood community. And with such misunderstanding Dr. Maamor and Mr. Vaithilingam have towards this sexual orientation they know nuts about, they actually want to speak about it? So which experts are to be recommended to parents? Anti-gay ones? Homophobic educators?

Dr Maamor said the Information Ministry may use the electronic media to disseminate information on the warfare against this social scourge. (emphasis added)

So Dr. Maamor is declaring “war” on a group of people. What an educated response in having the information ministry presenting biased information about a group of people they hardly know about. Social scourge? Say, I am curious to see what he and his wife are doing in their love life, and then call it as a “social scourge”? Would anyone like it? Maybe we can regulate that too.

Meanwhile Yusri calls on the authorities to monitor male artistes and actors that are prone to portray 'feminine' image.

"We are not saying that all of the 'womanly' males are gays but many of the gays are from this group."

"We do not wish these people to be used as the idol and role model", he said.

Many gays are “womanly”? Unfortunately most gays are very proud to be male, masculine and strong. These stereotypes are completely out and show just how much knowledge young people such as Mr. Yusri has about homosexuals. That is why Ms. Melati uttered the next wrong line:

Clearly, the homosexual phenomenon is against the human natural behaviour and should be swiftly and firmly dealt with. (emphasis added)

Researches from the past decade had again, and again, and again (and again of course), show the clear natural biological essence to homosexuality, with only slight enviromental influences. To deny fact by calling it “against human natural behaviour” would probably haunt anyone taunting it back with: you are bloody out.

The article ends with Ms. Melati’s gentle warning:

Not everyone wants to see the country to be overwhelmed by the influx of moral decadence that erupt from those who are out to draw the people into the dark
ages of morality.

It looks like Ms Melati is out to draw people back into the dark ages of mentality.

Unintelligent reporting. Misinformed position. Parroting of pseudo-theories. And statements totally based on nothing but lack of knowledge and bigotry. An attempt to propagate hatred towards a group of people who’s only sin is to love their own sexes. All these from one of the most respected source of news and information in Malaysia.

What is my country coming to?