Jaip looking at implementing penalty on LGBT offenders
PEKAN: The Pahang Islamic Religious Department (Jaip) is prepared to follow the footsteps of Terengganu to impose the whipping sentence on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) offenders in the state.
Jaip director Datuk Mohamad Noor Abdul Rani said discussions were in the early stages and that they had to be scrutinised before any decision was made.
He described the penalty by the Kuala Terengganu Syariah High Court on Monday as appropriate as it showed that the authorities were serious in enforcing Islamic law and curbing the LGBT culture.
“We support (the sentence) as it shows the beauty of Islam, but in Pahang, we have not decided (on implementing a similar punishment in the state) yet and will look into it,” he said after opening the “Kembara Merdeka Hijrah 2018” at the Jaip office here.
The media on Monday reported that two women, aged 22 and 32 respectively, who were found guilty of attempting to have lesbian sex were caned six times in public, the first time such punishment was meted out in Terengganu.
Mohamad said religious enforcement was carried out to educate the transgender community through programmes conducted throughout the year.
“We have conducted activities with Persatuan Insaf to engage the transgender community to instil in them religious knowledge and guide them back to the right path. We want to give them awareness (of their wrongdoing) and support the sentencing carried out under Islamic law as we want to educate youth on LGBTs.”
He said Jaip was planning to spread public awareness about LGBT by putting up signboards throughout the state.