SODOMY IS AN OFFENCE, MUSTAPA REMINDS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

KOTA BAHARU (Malaysia), Feb 17 (Bernama) -- International Trade and Industry
Minister Mustapa Mohamed has stressed to the international community that
sodomy is against Islam and the eastern culture in Malaysia.

Mustapa said foreigners must first understand the country's beliefs, culture
and laws which deemed sodomy as an offence.

"They don't understand our culture, beliefs and laws. They should respect
our country's sovereignty and the fact that sodomy is against our religion,
beliefs and laws," he said in a speech in the capital city of east coast
Kelantan state in Peninsular Malaysia, Tuesday.

He was commenting on the act of over 50 Australian politicians who lodged a
formal protest urging Malaysia to drop opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy
trial saying it would hurt the country's image.

The politicians called for the case against Anwar to be abandoned in the
interest of building confidence in the impartial rule of law in Malaysia.

A foreign news agency had reported Australia's foreign affairs parliamentary
subcommittee chairman, Michael Danby, as saying that Anwar's second sodomy
charge was a shame to Malaysia's democratic system and felt that they needed to
support the opposition leader.

The protest letter received mixed reactions from various quarters in
Malaysia, whereby some local leaders characterised the Australian Member of
Parliament as being extreme and unaware of Malaysia's system of parliamentary
democracy.

Mustapa said the international community should not define sodomy through
their own eyes, whereby some countries were able to accept the act.

"In the US, there are laws that allow gay marriages. A man can marry another
man and a woman can marry another woman.

"Such practices are frowned upon by Muslims in this country and others
worldwide as it is against nature. Therefore, the world needs to evaluate
Anwar's case through Malaysia's lens and not their own liberal views," he said.

-- BERNAMA