Anger over Malaysia's 'prevent' homosexuality film competition
The country's health ministry is under fire for offering cash prizes for clips explaining how LGBT people can "get help".
Saturday 3 June 2017 17:10, UK
Malaysia's government has been accused of inciting hatred by offering prizes for videos explaining how to "prevent" homosexuality.
The country's health ministry has sparked outrage with the launch of a national competition addressing subjects such as sex, sexual health, being gay or "gender confusion".
Each video must include a section on "prevention, control and how to get help" as well as "issues and consequences", according to an advert and entry form posted on the ministry's website.
Winning entries will receive between 1,000 and 4,000 ringgit (£180 to £725), with the theme of the contest branded as "Value Yourself, Practice Healthy Lifestyle".
The move has been condemned as the latest attack on Malaysia's LGBT community by the country's government, which has repeatedly been criticised by human rights groups.
Local transgender activist Nisha Ayub, from the Seed Foundation charity, said: "I was shocked. This is encouraging discrimination, hatred and even violence towards the minorities."
Fellow rights campaigner Pang Khee Teik said: "The very fact that they lump LGBT people under a category called 'gender confusion' shows that the authorities are very much confused themselves.
"It is mind-blowing that a government agency wants the whole country to be sucked into its confluence of confusion."
Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, from Malaysia's health ministry, claimed the competition was "never intended to discriminate any specific group" with the contest devised "purely to tap knowledge and creativity of adolescents on sexual and reproductive health related matters".
Gay sex has been illegal in Malaysia since laws imposed under British colonial rule, with the country's government having previously cited the nation's Muslim-majority status to explain its neglect of LGBT rights.
In March this year, .
Officials had demanded a "gay moment" be cut from the film before being aired in the country's cinemas, although they later relented and allowed the movie to be screened uncensored.
A month earlier, Malaysia's government was accused of endorsing gay conversion therapy when one of its departments produced a video suggesting homosexuality can be "cured".