Malaysia offers cash prizes for best 'gay prevention' video

The Malaysian government is offering cash prizes of up to $1,000 for the best videos explaining how to "prevent" homosexuality, according to a competition launched on the health ministry's website

Nisha Ayub, LGBT activist

The Malaysian government is offering cash prizes of up to $1,000 for the best videos explaining how to "prevent" homosexuality, according to a competition launched on the health ministry's website.

Activists on Saturday said the move would further spread fear among Malaysia's LGBT community, as conservative attitudes chip away at the Muslim-majority nation's one-time reputation for moderation and tolerance.

Contestants are invited to submit a video clip addressing various categories including gayness or "gender confusion", and offering suggestions as to how these could be "prevented or controlled".

Winners will receive between 1,000 and 4,000 Ringgit ($235-$940) after the competition closes at the end of August, the ministry's website said. The video clips need to focus on "prevention, control and how to get help" as well as "issues and consequences".

The guidelines described the overall theme of the video contest as: "Value Yourself, Healthy Lifestyle Practice." "Each work will be judged on originality, content, concept and creativity and quality production by a panel of judges appointed by the organisers," according to the health ministry's website.

"The very fact that they lump LGBT people under a category called 'gender confusion' shows that the authorities are very much confused themselves," Pang Khee Teik, a well-known local activist, said. "It is mind-blowing that a government agency wants the whole country to be sucked into its confluence of confusion."

Participants in the competition can also make videos about sex and the Internet, or sexual health. A health ministry spokesman declined to comment.

Homosexuality is forbidden in Malaysia, where laws criminalising sodomy can result in imprisonment, corporal punishment and fines.

Pang said LGBT people have difficulty accessing good medical services in Malaysia due to a distrust of health care authorities.

$1k
Maximum cash award for the winner

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