Anwar answers gay rights question

(Bernama) – Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said that there is a need to review Malaysia’s archaic law so as not to be seen as punitive and considered as relevant.

Answering a question about gay rights and whether he was prepared to take “the idea of anti-discrimination as far as gay rights” are concerned, Anwar said in an interview with BBC on Thursday, that “we will have to review some of our archaic laws.”

“We Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia generally believe and committed to support the sanctity of marriage between men and women but we should not be seen to be punitive and consider the archaic law as relevant.”

The four minutes 39 seconds interview can be viewed at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16531714.

Anwar also called for a free and fair election and for the goverment to take “necessary measures to free the country” from what he called discriminatory policies.

The government has set up the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform to address concerns raised over the country’s electoral process.