APRIL 27 — I’m guessing that is the main question that runs through the mind of the people who are preparing to either head to Dataran Merdeka or not tomorrow. The truth is, I have been personally wrestling with this for the past few weeks since I have yet to make my mind up until the writing of this article.
After all, I was in Bersih 2.0 and my agenda for walking then was truly clear. I walked for free and fair elections, with the idea that such elections would definitely push forth the need for open discussion on issues concerning myself and about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, which is the LGBT community.
The reason I personally want to push for free and fair elections is because of the need for intellectual discourse from both sides, the pro-LGBT and the anti-LGBT, to garner some form of survey as to why hate groups (and yes, they are hate groups) such as Jaringan Melayu Malaysia exist at all. The truth of the matter is they exist solely to try and link Bersih, the call for free and fair elections, and its organisers, particularly Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Datuk A. Samad Said, to the LGBT movement.
As such, would my presence, in a pink T-shirt and blue jeans at Dataran Merdeka this coming weekend, be construed by JMM as being right?
It is a rather “post hoc ergo propter hoc” argument, but then again Malaysians don’t speak Latin, do they?
They probably wouldn’t even bother to Google what the hell that means.
The LGBT community, and myself personally, is more than just a bunch of gays waving rainbow flags marching for freedom. We are also made up of every race, every religious denomination, every political faction, be it Umno or PAS, and in fact, we come from multiple levels of the corporate ladder, be it the lowly executive to the blue-collar factory workers or even those who establish businesses as entrepreneurs, more so in the creative industry which Datuk Seri Najib Razak has recently encouraged the youth of the nation to be more participatory in.
As such, we are also taxpayers who have a say on how this country should be run. And we are beginning to acknowledge this fact, whether the government or its hateful supposedly non-governmental organisations wish to acknowledge.
It is with this in mind that I think the LGBTs need to join Bersih 3.0. We need to acknowledge at first, however, the fact that we do have a stake in this country of ours just like the rest of the Malaysian population. And as such, do we not want free and fair elections?
Do we not want the ability to tell our future Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri and Ahli Parlimen to stop violence and abuse of LGBTs?
To stop the bullying and hatemongering by the schools, the religious authorities and, consequentially, the government themselves?
You see, fellow gays, queers and transgender Mak Nyahs, we all can have that ability if we make our voices heard and tell the government “you know what, I am the bapok, kaum nabi Lut, orang berseks songsang” that you talk about, but I’m more than that. I’m a registered voter, a taxpayer, a student who will be working in this country in the future and contribute to the economy that you guys screwed up.
I am the one who goes out to Pavilion to buy your luxury goods which are 100 per cent taxed on import duties. I am the one who spends my money on the alcohol tax, the entertainment tax, the sales tax.
I am also the one driving the shittily made local Perodua and Proton cars which you sell at RM40,000 plus minimum in order to keep the companies afloat and sell at a cheaper price overseas.
The LGBT community, if we could have a survey right now, spends more in their lifetime promoting the sale of luxury goods, automobiles, and perhaps even local tourism. We also spend more on fashion products, be it what is labelled Islamic and such, and are in fact the ones who promote tourism by getting foreigners to come to the country to enjoy the sights and sounds of KL.
Like it or not, whether Ng Yen Yen wishes to mention it or not, pink tourism and pink dollars are a growing market. And ipso facto, so is the visibility of the rainbow coalition.
While the rest of the world, and in fact the cyber gaming world, has normalised homosexuality, Malaysians are left behind because gays are harangued by the stigma that somehow we caused earthquakes and turned people into salt. While the former could have been a sex romp gone wrong, we are not exactly capable of shaking the world like Carole King.
As such, I will be at Dataran Merdeka tomorrow to show that I am more than just a gay man. I am a voter and I sure as hell want free and fair elections so that we can advance to a Malaysia where we can live as who we are; overtly happy people who can go around openly without being threatened and cowed because the closet cases don’t have the guts to do so.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
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