Current Affairs

LGBT people cause deadly natural disasters, say religious officials in Malaysia

Oct 05 2018
Written by Josh Jackman

PALU, INDONESIA - OCTOBER 05: People walk along a damaged area which was hit by liquefaction in Petobo village following the earthquake on October 5, 2018 in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The death toll from last weeks earthquake and tsunami has risen to at least 1,558 but widely expected to rise as officials said on Friday the number of victims of the liquefaction could be up to a thousand. Power had returned to parts of the city and fuel shipments have begun to flow back but some affected towns remain inaccessible with the infrastructure badly damaged. A tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake slammed into Indonesia's coastline on the island of Sulawesi which destroyed or damaged over 70,000 homes as tensions remain high with desperate survivors trying to secure basics like clean water and fuel for generators. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

People survey the damage done in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia last week (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty)

LGBT people are responsible for natural disasters like the earthquake and tsunami which killed more than 1,500 in Indonesia last week, according to Malaysian officials.

The Selangor Islamic Religious Department, which is responsible for enforcing Islamic law in the state, distributed a sermon on Friday (October 5) which says catastrophes are prompted by queer people’s “vices and sins.”

The pronouncement came just weeks after the director of Pahang’s Islamic Religious Department, Mohamad Noor Abdul Rani, welcomed two women being caned for having lesbian sex and said the punishment could spread to his state.

Mohamad Noor Abdul Rani (Utusan Online)

He also warned that anyone who has gay sex will “incur the wrath and anger of Allah.”

The sermon given to mosques throughout the state of nearly six million people — which encircles the capital of Kuala Lumpur in the Muslim-majority country — drew similar conclusions.

Selangor’s religious officials quoted Quran verses 28:59 and 11:82 to 83 to state that Allah only punishes sinners, and does so often, according to the Malay Mail.

Indonesian K9 police unit searches for victims in Palu, in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi on October 5, 2018, following the September 28 earthquake and tsunami. - Search teams made desperate last-ditch efforts on October 5 to find survivors in destroyed buildings a week on from Indonesia's devastating quake-tsunami, as the death toll from the disaster rose above 1,500. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP) (Photo credit should read ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

More than 1,500 people have died after an earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty)

They included being LGBT on a list of ‘sinful actions’ which brought on Allah’s wrath.

“This verse explains that we are always under the observation of Allah the creator,” they wrote. “Whatever calamity that befalls humans must have its reason whether realised or not.

“What is certain, no ruin is imparted but for humans’ own cruelty.

“This cruelty is defined as idolatry towards Allah, and all forms of vices and sins done by humans.”

Jumadil, 5, (C) reacts at seeing his mother Susi Rahmatia, 26 (R), after he went missing for seven days following the earthquake and tsunami, at a shelter in Palu on October 5, 2018. - Susi Rahmatia thought her five-year-old son Jumadil was dead, but on Friday -- a week after they were separated by Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami they enjoyed a miraculous and emotional reunion. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP) (Photo credit should read ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

“What is certain, no ruin is imparted but for humans’ own cruelty” (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty)

They said that these “vices and sins” included “missing prayers, zina (premarital or adulterous sex), LGBT, drinking alcohol, gambling, revealing the ‘aurat’ (women showing skin), taking usury (lending money at high rates of interest), and so on.”

Gay sex is banned across the country, which groups it together with bestiality in a list of offences which are “against the order of nature.”

Malaysia is currently embroiled in a political furore over LGBT+ rights, sparked by government minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s order to an arts festival to remove its portraits of local queer activists in August.

After this inflammatory decision, taken after the new government came to power in May, Malaysian police raided a gay bar in Kuala Lumpur.

PALU, INDONESIA - OCTOBER 05: People standing at a damaged area after being hit by liquefaction in Petobo village following the earthquake on October 5, 2018 in Palu, Central Sulawesi. The death toll from last weeks earthquake and tsunami has risen to at least 1,558 but widely expected to rise as officials said on Friday the number of victims of the liquefaction could be up to a thousand. Power had returned to parts of the city and fuel shipments have begun to flow back but some affected towns remain inaccessible with the infrastructure badly damaged. A tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake slammed into Indonesia's coastline on the island of Sulawesi which destroyed or damaged over 70,000 homes as tensions remain high with desperate survivors trying to secure basics like clean water and fuel for generators. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Another view of the horrific damage in Palu (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty)

Authorities have said the police action was carried out to “mitigate the LGBT culture from spreading into our society.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail then joined the growing chorus of prominent voices against LGBT+ rights in the country when she said queer citizens should hide, keeping their identities secret in order to be accepted by society.

Latteffah Ali, state chairperson of the women’s wing of the United Malays National Organisation, said that if LGBT+ people keep pushing for equal rights, it could destroy the health and ethics of a generation.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - AUGUST 31: Malaysian opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the wife of opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim, leaves the Bersih 4.0 rally on August 31, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Prime Minister Najib Razak has become embroiled in a scandal involving state fund debts and allegations of deposits totaling 2.6 billion ringgit paid to his bank account. Razak has denied any wrongdoing. Thousand of people gathered to demand his resignation and a new general election. (Photo by Charles Pertwee/Getty Images)

The country has been embroiled in ongoing controversy over LGBT+ issues (Charles Pertwee/Getty)

Malaysia’s Deputy Health Minister, Dr Lee Boon Chye, said that LGBT+ people suffer from an “organic disorder.”

Mahfuz Omar, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said queer people should be helped to return to their “original identities” and that allowing people to be transgender would cause chaos in society.