Fridae

The rights of LGBT people is set to be a major issue of Malaysia's upcoming general elections, according to a survey conducted by an LGBT rights group.

Some 72 per cent of respondents—and 84.5 per cent of those aged 20—said it was an important issue in the upcoming polls, according to the online survey conducted by Diversity.

The survey asked 891 people between September 25 2017 to October 31 2017.

Less than half of those aged 51 and above believed LGBT rights was an important issue and 28 per cent considered other issues—including corruption, racial inequality and religious fundamentalism—as more important.

"Although I support LGBT, I believe that the battle of secularism and indoctrination of Islam in Malaysia doesn't leave much space for the people to consider the issues of LGBT. The more active LGBT-activism is, the more likely it is to be the target of Islamists, and the abandoned burden of secularists," a respondent was quoted saying by Malay Mail Online.

The survey also found that the chief concerns of the LGBT community were rights to equal employment (91.10 per cent), education (88.80 per cent), access to healthcare (93.5 per cent), rights to marriage (83.80 per cent), and to abolish discriminatory law and policies (82.60 per cent).