The Malaysian government has changed the categories of a controversial video competition being run by its health department.

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LGBT rights activists were astounded when the country’s health department launched a competition offering cash prizes for people to make videos that discourage being gay or transgender.

Activists argued that the competition would encourage discrimination and stigma against LGBT people, while a leading non-government organisation representing Muslim doctors claimed that LGBT people were responsible for the country’s HIV/AIDS challenges, a position that was challenged by the Malaysian AIDS Council.

Deputy Director-General of Health Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the decision had been made after a meeting between ministry officials, the Malaysian Aids Council, experts and representatives from “key population groups”.

Sulaiman had previously defended the contest categories, saying their aim was to promote creativity, not to discriminate.

The decision has been welcomed by Nisha Ayub from The Seed Foundation, a group that works with transgender people in Malaysia.

Ayub welcomed the decision describing the meeting with the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MOH) as being “awesome”.

“I must give credit to MOH for their interest and commitment in understanding of the issues , needs and concern of the community.”

“Thank you to Malaysian Aids Council for including me in this meeting to represent the community. I was so honoured to be apart of this meeting as they were genuinely asking for my inputs from the community perspective in each of the changes made in the video competition.” Ayub said in a Facebook past.

OIP Staff