KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian youth leader has questioned Bersih 3.0 co-chairman Datuk S. Ambiga's push for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the country. MIC Youth Divisional leader T. Muralitharan, the head of the Tebrau MIC Youth in Johor, in southern Malaysia, argued that no major religion has ever legitimized LGBT activities. He continued to say that Ambiga, a leading protest figure in the country, must state what faith she prescribes to for all Malaysians to understand. He said Ambiga had been used by opposition leader and Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to garner the support of the Indian community for the opposition pact. “Anwar had used Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) before. Now, he is using Ambiga and Bersih to win support among the Indian community. However, I do not think that the Indians in the country will be fooled into supporting Ambiga, more so due to the LGBT issue,” he told Bernama. LGBT rights have become a contentious issue in Malaysia in recent months, as activists have called for dialogue between groups in order to end the criminalization of LGBT action in the country.
