![]() ![]() They need to speak to the community beforehand.”Īctivists are especially concerned that Healy’s comments come just weeks before state elections. But he added: “They need to be mindful of how they speak. There was value in foreign performers speaking out, said Hanafi. This was no longer the case in Malaysia, Hanafi said, adding that when the lights came on in a club at the end of the night, some friends immediately felt a sense of panic, fearing that this was the sign of another police raid. ![]() ![]() “In a lot of other places in the world, queer nightlife is one of the places where at least a subset of queer people can feel safe and a sense of community.” “For people who live in Kuala Lumpur, the raid was a very scary night and I think that since then a lot of us do live in fear,” said Mikhail Hanafi, a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Each state and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya also have sharia codes that generally criminalise gay sex and gender nonconformity.Īctivists have warned of increased intolerance over recent years, citing in particular a raid on an LGBTQ+ Halloween party in Kuala Lumpur last year, when 20 people were arrested. Malaysia’s federal penal code, first introduced during British colonial rule, punishes oral and anal sex with up to 20 years in prison. “Doing it at this scale, with a lot of people who are not aware of the discussions going around with regards to queer activism, that is what is harmful.” “We’ve been doing a lot of work on the ground, community organising, and having stakeholder meetings with local government agencies,” he said. The government has also said it will tighten entry requirements for foreign artists to perform in Malaysia, according to local media.ĭhia Rezki Rohaizad, the deputy president of Jejaka, a social support group for gay, bisexual and queer men in Malaysia, criticised the government’s handling of the situation, citing Healy’s right to freedom of expression.īut he added that Healy’s speech was not how many activists in the country would have wanted to highlight the issue. The following day, organisers of the festival announced that the entire weekend event had been cancelled. Healy then kissed the bass player Ross MacDonald as they played the song I Like America & America Likes Me.Ībout 30 minutes later the band walked off stage, with Healy announcing they were now banned. The comment was met with some cheers from the audience. Because you’re young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool.” And that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government. He said: “Unfortunately you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m fucking furious. He was holding what appeared to be a wine bottle and spat on the stage as he spoke. The British pop-rock singer was headlining the Good Vibes festival when he criticised the country’s homophobic laws in a profanity-laden speech. ![]() “He gets to fly out of the country and not face the consequences, while our people have to face the brunt of what just happened,” said the drag performer Carmen Rose, who described the speech as self-serving, adding that it risked undoing the work of activists. ![]()
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