KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan denied being behind Seksualiti Merdeka and stressed she was officiating it next week as a private citizen and not as Bersih chairman.
“For the record, I am not an organiser of this event. I was invited to officiate it on the 9th of November 2011 which I agreed to do in my personal capacity,” she said in a statement today.
Ambiga also pointed out that the aim of Seksualiti Merdeka was to give members of the marginalised LGBT community a platform to highlight the discrimination they faced daily and not to encourage homosexuality.
She said that while she was mindful of religious opposition to homosexuality, this did not mean Malaysians could not show understanding and sensitivity to a community that suffered mental and physical abuse and oppression.
“It does not mean that we have a right to treat them badly and to attack them mercilessly. It does not mean that they have no rights. The recent reaction, even to the extent of calling them animals, underscores precisely this point,” she said.
Ambiga (picture) added that detractors who had strong views against homosexuality were entitled to their opinions but said no member of society should have to live in fear because of who they were.
“I also believe that as fellow human beings who are imperfect, we should show humility and not arrogance. I believe we are duty bound to understand the plight of those who suffer, no matter who they are,” she said.
Seksualiti Merdeka, a movement championing the freedom for sexual orientation and gender identity, has been holding the festival yearly since 2008 but sparked a heated debate after the government banned the celebration yesterday.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar said the police were not against freedom of expression or human rights but had to step in because the organisers did not have a permit to hold the festival in public.
He also said the police had banned the event to safeguard public order after receiving several reports against Seksualiti Merdeka.
Khalid added the police were investigating the matter under Section 298A of the Penal Code and Section 27A(1)(c) of the Police Act and had linked Ambiga — who heads Bersih, another outlawed movement — to the movement.
Malay rights group Perkasa and other Muslim NGOs held small protests outside mosques in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam earlier today against the event, which they said insulted Islam as the religion of the country.
Perkasa later handed a memorandum to the Federal Territories Islamic Development Department (Jakim) office urging the religious body to obtain a court order to prevent organisers of Seksualiti Merdeka from carrying out the event.
