I criticize the PN government and PAS for insisting on setting up an anti-LGBT taskforce to handle issues related to LGBT Muslims amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
This shows that the PN government resorted to instigating hatred in order to divert people’s attention from its governance failure.
Recently, it was reported that the de facto Religious Affairs Deputy Minister Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, revealed that the PN government had established a special taskforce of 20 members since December last year to deal with the issues related to LGBT Muslims. Yesterday, PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad issued a statement to vilify the LGBTs and commend the government for setting up the special taskforce to “correct” and “guide” LGBTs.
Ever since the pandemic broke out last year, the situation in Malaysia has not improved, but new confirmed cases have continued to rise and reach new highs.
The PN government has shown its incapability and utter failure in governing the country. Not only is the government unable to solve the economic crisis, education crisis, and health crisis wrought by the pandemic, but it resorts to manipulating public opinion and using LGBTs as straw men to create social hatred in order to divert people’s attention from its governance failure.
Apart from implementing Movement Control Orders to restrict movement and declaring Emergency to maintain its shaky regime, the PN government apparently has no clue and couldn’t find any effective solutions in the face of repeated outbreaks.
In fact, the PN government should have consulted and collaborated with experts in various fields since the beginning to roll out effective measures to overcome the pandemic outbreaks and the subsequent economic and social shocks.
For instance, the government should implement large-scale screening for red zones or specific areas, process and show the data related to the pandemic in a more transparent manner, introduce more targeted assistance to protect the minorities, and so on.
All these efforts will help ensure break the chain of infection, reduce the basic reproduction number (R0) of the Covid-19 disease, and to ensure that people from all walks of life, particularly the minorities, are not sidelined.
Unfortunately, since the PN government seized power last year, it has never been dedicating to governing the country.
Instead, the government has virtually transferred the burden of overcoming the pandemic entirely to civil servants and frontliners.
One of the component members of the PN, UMNO has been indulging in power seizures, focusing only on how to blackmail component members and plunder more political resources in the hope of becoming the leader of the ruling coalition like the old days.
Meanwhile, the Bersatu and PAS continue to instigate social hatred and even use LGBTs as the straw men now to divert the people’s attention in order to contain their dissatisfaction with the PN government.
Recently, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had just urged ASEAN countries to take a tougher stance against hate speech, including on religion, gender, and sexual orientation.
Ironically, the Prime Minister’s remark stands in stark contradiction to the actions taken by the PN government and the remarks made by its component members against the LGBTs.
In order to set a good example both domestically and to all ASEAN countries, The Prime Minister should practise what he preaches to protect the LGBTs from hate speech, by immediately disbanding the special taskforce that is malicious to LGBTs and condemning the remarks made by its component parties that are hostile to sexual minorities.
Since the PN government has the leisure to set up a 20-person special taskforce to deal with LGBTs, it should spend its time and effort instead to set up a number of special taskforces to deal with the pandemic, economic crisis, and social shocks by bringing together government and opposition members, experts in various fields and the private sector.
The government should work with everyone closely in order to stop the pandemic from raging through our country, to revitalize our severely impacted economy, to restore the confidence of both domestic and foreign businesses and investors, as well as to reduce the impact of the pandemic on everyone, in particular the vulnerable and marginalised groups.