Malaysian university's gay conversion contest sparks anger

A contest at a leading Malaysian university seeking ideas to "convert" gay students sparked anger today, with activists warning it could drive people in the Muslim-majority country to suicide.

It was the latest example of what rights groups say is growing intolerance towards Malaysia's gay community as religious fundamentalism increases, eroding the multi-ethnic country's traditionally moderate Islam.

The contest organised by the Muslim Students Association at publicly-owned Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) called for participants to create videos and posters as part of a campaign called "Back to Nature".

Amirah Sulaiman, a 22-year-old association member, told AFP the programme was a "soft approach" to return members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to the "natural path".

"We will work hard to convert them," she said. "LGBT is like smoking -- it is bad for health."
"There must be more programmes with facts to educate people about (the LGBT community)."