The Melaka state government has instructed the Melaka Islamic Religious Department (JAIM) to investigate claims of a hotel in the state operating under a ‘gay-friendly’ concept, which went viral on social media yesterday.
State Executive Councillor for Education, Higher Education and Religious Affairs, Datuk Rahmad Mariman, said an official statement would be issued once the investigation is completed.
“I have directed JAIM to look into the allegations,” he told reporters when contacted.
The issue was first raised by independent preacher Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, who questioned the trend of branding businesses with labels such as ‘friendly’ as a marketing strategy.
In his social media post, he compared the so-called ‘gay-friendly’ concept with other labels like ‘pet-friendly,’ ‘family-friendly,’ and ‘Muslim-friendly,’ which are commonly used in business promotion.
“Branding can be creative. Even ‘Muslim-friendly’ can be a business label. If ‘gay-friendly’ becomes a trend, what will be next? ‘Pork-friendly’ or ‘LGBT-friendly’? I thought ‘friendly’ was only used in sports; I didn’t expect it to be applied openly to gay concepts,” he wrote sarcastically.
The post drew mixed reactions from netizens, with some expressing concern over the open acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the state.
“Do not normalise what is wrong… they are testing whether Malaysians will oppose this,” one social media user commented.
Another user claimed the budget hotel in question had received poor reviews from customers.
“It’s good that this went viral. Hopefully, Muslim visitors will avoid this place,” he added.
