KUALA LUMPUR: Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the recent earthquake that hit Palu, Indonesia was God’s punishment for the immoral activities committed by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transexual (LGBT) community there.
While raising a supplementary question, Zahid (BN-Umno-Bagan Datuk) said he heard claims that the calamity at Palu was due to the involvement of over 1,000 people in the immoral LGBT activities.
“The incident in Palu, it was said that over 1,000 people were involved in the (LGBT) activities and the area was hit (by the disaster). This is a punishment from God.
“I would like to ask, as part of Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) tasks to implement the Mukhayyam outreach programme to help the LGBT community, on steps taken by the government agencies and other states on this issue.
“How effective are such programmes, so that we can avoid similar punishment from God,” he said.
He was putting forward a supplementary question to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa during Question and Answer at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Mujahid said that the LGBT situation in Malaysia was under control thanks to the success of the Mukhayyam programme where some of its participants had made efforts to change their physical appearances to reflect their gender at birth.
“There are LGBT members, who despite appearing physically different than their gender at birth, are making efforts to leave deviant activities and adhere to the basic teachings of the religion such as performing the daily prayer,” he said.
On a supplementary question from Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PH-PKR-Setiawangsa) that people should not be too hasty in passing judgments and jumping into conclusion by claiming that natural disaster was a result of a divine punishment, Mujahid agreed that people should not take the easy way out to explain such things.
While admitting that any natural disaster will not occur without the will of Allah as how it happened to Prophet Lut’s people as told in the Quran, Mujahid said he rejected the idea of passing judgements and taking the natural disaster as a form of divine punishment.
“What we need to do now is find ways to curb (LGBT activities) as part of our collective responsibility,” he said.