Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin told the Dewan Negara today that the movie ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ did not pass Malaysia’s censorship requirements as “it mentions LGBT”.
Theatre operator Golden Screen Cinemas announced late last month that the movie would not be released in Malaysia. It was earlier revealed that the film, starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, had been postponed “indefinitely”.
“Right now, there are many movies that have LGBT elements that miss censorship (authorities). The way they promote LGBT is rather discreet,” said Zahidi.
“As an example, the movie ‘Alexander the Great’ that I watched when I was young. For us, Iskandar Zulkarnain (Alexander the Great) is mentioned in the Quran.
“But in the movie, it was shown rather discreetly, that Alexander and his assistant friend … they came out from a place and they looked tired, as though they had just done something … that’s like promoting LGBT.”
He added there were many television series that also promoted LGBT that somehow missed the censors.
He, however, admitted that it wasn’t easy taking action against this, citing a “TikTok icon” who has since fled the country.
Cosmetics entrepreneur Nur Sajat fled to Thailand in February 2021 before settling down in Australia, after religious authorities in Malaysia cited her, following “public complaints”.
She was granted asylum in Australia and has legally changed her gender status to female, there.
“That’s the number one agenda (for the LGBT community) but we still can’t arrest. The government and the religious authorities are working together to stop the LGBT (culture) in Malaysia.”
Zahidi added that he was surprised that those who promoted LGBT were “berbadan sasa” (muscular).
“I’m surprised at how this can happen, muscular men being together, doing that thing. This shouldn’t happen, but it is.
“In Malaysia, we are strict. But the platforms outside Malaysia, we cannot control. If we open a platform to watch LGBT programmes or content, it will appear. Even if we restrict access, there will be an alternative platform,” he added.
Human Rights Watch and Justice for Sisters, in a report released today, called on the Malaysian government to decriminalise same-sex conduct and discontinue programmes that call for the LGBT community to be “rehabilitated” or “cured.”
The 71-page report, “I Don’t Want to Change Myself: Anti-LGBT Conversion Practices, Discrimination, and Violence in Malaysia,” also states that government officials have “fostered a hostile climate, in which LGBT and gender-diverse people face discrimination and punishment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity”.
It also provided several recommendations, including passing legislation that allowed transgender people to change the name and gender marker on their official identity documents, based on self-determination.
