PETALING JAYA: PAS must actually look at issues of sexual crimes and cost of living crisis in Kelantan and Terengganu instead of targetting the LGBTQ communities, former lawmaker Charles Santiago said today.
“Our Chief Justice of Malaysian Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat has expressed concern over the high number of child sex abuse cases, totalling 59, recorded in Kelantan in 2022.
“News reports in 2021 say a shocking 100% of Orang Asli households in Terengganu live below the national poverty line income. Kelantan is in second place, with 83.3% of its indigenous community living in poverty.
“224 sexual crimes were reported in Kelantan in 2021. According to the media, there were 51 rape cases in the first 7 months of 2021, & police said many of the victims were aged between 13 & 16 years old.
“Instead of creating jobs to mitigate income losses and rising food prices, PAS prefers to spew venom against the minority LGBT people, which increases the risk of hate crimes and violence against them,“ he said in a statement today.
“It’s time for PAS to actually look at development issues in states that it runs on top of the rise in sexual crimes,“ the former Klang MP added.
Yesterday, Perikatan Nasional’s Kuantan MP Wan Razali Wan Nor sheepishly admitted he was unsure that the weekend march was LGBT-linked after being grilled by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul.
Johari asked the Kuantan member of parliament (MP) if he could prove that the march held on Sunday (March 12) was a a pro-LGBT gathering.
