Concern over the safety of LGBTIQ+ Australian travelling through and working in Malaysia has increased following the arrest of two Vietnamese tourists who have been charged with having consensual and private sex.
Tang Van Duc, 22, and Lee Vu Linh, 29, appeared in court in Butterworth in the North Seberang Perai District of Penang yesterday and pleaded guilty to “immoral activities”.
The couple were arrested by the State Immigration Department in the hotel room while participating in what is described as an “immoral act” with an “agent provocateur” on the evening of 12th November. Each of the men were fined 1,000 Malaysian ringgit (AUD $353).
National LGBTIQ rights advocacy organisation, just.equal, has raised concern about the issue describing the action against the two Vietnamese men as entrapment.
Just.equal spokesperson, Brian Greig, said the Australian government had a duty to warn people of the dangers.
“It is the Australian Government’s duty to warn LGBTIQ Australians when their safety may be endangered by the repressive policies of a foreign country.”
“The entrapment and conviction of a Vietnamese gay couple in Malaysia shows that country is not a safe place for LGBTIQ travellers.”
“Reports that Malaysian authorities orchestrated a sting operation to entrap a gay couple are particularly concerning.” Greig said, “LGBTIQ travellers planning a visit to Malaysia should be warned to reconsider their travel plans.”
Greig said Smart Traveller has a history of defining criminalisation of homosexuality under “culture” and not updating travel advice significant to LGBTIQ Australians.Under laws inherited from British colonial times, Malaysia punishes oral sex between heterosexual partners and all sexual activity between men with a maximum gaol term of twenty years. The laws are rarely enforced but in recent years there has been a growing number of cases dealt with by the countries Sharia courts.
Earlier this month four Malaysian men were caned for having gay sex. The men, aged 26 to 37, received six strokes of the cane each in a prison outside Kuala Lumpur on Monday for attempting “intercourse against the order of nature”.
The four men were part of a group of six who were arrested in a private apartment in 2018. Fifty police officers were despatched to the home after a tip off that a “gay orgy” would be occurring at the address. Police say they found several naked men at the address.
Five of the men were sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined 4,800 ringgit (AUD $695.00) each, alongside the corporal punishment. A sixth man was given an extra month’s imprisonment, with the judge commenting that because he was married his offence was greater. Two of the men who are appealing their convictions so they were not subjected to the whipping at this time.
LGBTIQ+ rights activists in Malaysia have raised concerned about the severity of the sentences, and highlighted that the charges are for attempting to have sex, rather than actually having sex. The latest arrest and conviction of foreigners has been seen as part of a ramping up of anti-LGBTI sentiment in the country.
Ms Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Amnesty’s Malaysia executive director, said the punishments being handed out were harsh.
“These vicious punishments… are the actual crimes being committed here,” Kaliemuthu told the Straits Times. “Malaysia should be creating an environment in which LGBT people are free from discrimination, not ensnaring and beating innocent people.”
OUTinPerth has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Comment.
