‘Stamp out cross-dressing': Malaysian sarong event under fire for LGBTQ exclusion
Advertisement
Keretapi Sarong, a flashmob-style event held annually in September, invites participants to wear sarongs and ride public trains in a show of national pride. Since its inception in 2012, the celebration has grown in popularity and even spread abroad, with gatherings held last year in cities including Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.
However, the organisers' recent pledge to prevent 'cross-dressing' at this year's event has sparked criticism from activists and long-time supporters, who say it reflects a broader push to sideline marginalised communities as Malaysia's political climate turns more conservative.
In response to online complaints about gender-nonconforming participants at previous events, organiser Locco posted on X, formerly Twitter: 'Let us all stamp out cross-dressing! This is a cultural event, [everyone] should be more aware.'
The group's position aligned with comments from social media users who said the event should not resemble a pride parade. One user, Mein Mokhtar, wrote: 'If you can't respect the event organiser and can't abide and comply with the rules, then you are not welcome.'
04:41
'Asean's moment is now': Malaysia's Anwar on the bloc's response to AI, tariff challenges
'Asean's moment is now': Malaysia's Anwar on the bloc's response to AI, tariff challenges
The comments sparked backlash from members of the public who noted that the queer community had supported Keretapi Sarong long before it gained mainstream popularity.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
What does AI band The Velvet Sundown's rise mean for the future of music?
While few expect The Velvet Sundown to start picking up Grammy awards in the near future with its bland indie ballads, there are some who are beginning to wonder. Advertisement In the space of just six weeks, the band has pumped out three albums containing 13 songs each and had close to 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify as of July 22. But The Velvet Sundown – or rather, its makers – do not hide behind the fact that it has been relying on artificial intelligence to do so. 'Not quite human. Not quite machine. The Velvet Sundown lives somewhere in between,' it says on the band's social media accounts and its Spotify site. It is said to be a band of four, but the members have not been seen in public so far. Images of the group have evidently been created by AI. Advertisement Music by The Velvet Sundown started making the rounds across streaming platforms in early June. Combining rock, country and folk elements, most of the songs are interchangeable, mellow and tame – as long as you ignore lines like 'March for peace, not for pride' in the group's most played song, 'Dust on the Wind'.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Seoul palace AI flood video spotlights South Korea's deepfake deluge
A hyperrealistic, AI-generated video depicting Seoul's historic Gyeongbokgung Palace submerged under floodwaters has fuelled fresh alarm over the power of artificial intelligence to fabricate and spread misinformation. The viral clip, first shared by the YouTube channel 'Golpadak', opens with a man in a yellow raincoat standing before the former royal palace. 'Wow, the rain is incredible,' he remarks, gesturing towards what appears to be ankle-deep water. 'Gyeongbokgung is completely flooded.' Moments later, the video cuts to scenes of people desperately bailing water with plastic buckets, before panning to a seal gliding across the palace courtyard. 'Wait – is that a seal? Oh my gosh, a seal!' the narrator exclaims, betraying the satirical undertone of the footage. Despite the obvious absurdity of some details, the timing of the video's release – amid a week of record-breaking monsoon rains in South Korea – convinced some viewers it was genuine. Play 'People who make fake videos just to confuse others should be held accountable,' one user commented, reflecting a wave of public unease. The Korea Herald reported that the video was created with Veo 3, Google's latest AI video generation model, known for its ability to produce convincingly realistic images and dialogue. Dozens of similar AI-generated videos about South Korea's floods have proliferated across YouTube, the outlet noted.
HKFP
12-07-2025
- HKFP
China's crackdown on gay erotica stifles rare outlet for LGBTQ expression
Chinese women who publish homoerotica online say they are being threatened with fines and jail time, as increasing enforcement of vague obscenity charges targets a rare space for LGBTQ identity and feminism. In recent months, Chinese police have detained dozens of writers on Haitang Literature City, a Taiwan-based website known for publishing serialised Boys' Love, a genre of erotic fiction mainly written and read by heterosexual women. Originating as a strand of Japanese manga comics in the 1960s known as 'yaoi', the genre has attracted a cult following in Asia and beyond, leading to popular screen adaptations and web series. The stories defy social stereotypes about the roles of men and women, a 22-year-old writer who asked to go by the pseudonym Miu Miu, told AFP. 'It's a kind of resistance… resisting a male-dominated society,' she said. The latest crackdown ensnared mostly amateur writers who earned little to nothing for their work. Under Chinese law, profiting from 'spreading obscene content' can lead to fines and prison. 'Serious' instances can carry jail terms of up to a decade. The obscenity law applies when someone's work gets at least 10,000 clicks or is 'used' to collect fees exceeding 10,000 yuan (nearly $1,400). While the law excludes 'artistic works or works of artistic value', that distinction is usually left to police. Embed from Getty Images 'The rules are outdated,' said a lawyer representing one of the authors and who asked not to be named due to the risk of repercussions. 'The general public's attitude towards sex is no longer the same as it was 30 or 40 years ago,' the lawyer added. One author phoned by police earned 2,000 yuan for two books with a total of 72 chapters that, combined, drew around 100,000 clicks. 'Are there really 100,000 people who have seen my work like they said? Are they really going to sentence me to three to five years?' the author wrote on Weibo. 'Don't they know how precious three to five years of life are?' Censors without borders The investigations have also renewed criticism of a practice known as 'distant water fishing', cross-provincial policing by cash-strapped local governments. The profit-driven enforcement typically involves authorities travelling to another jurisdiction and seizing a suspect's assets. Embed from Getty Images 'Police find this kind of stuff can make them money,' Liang Ge, a lecturer on digital sociology at University College London, said of the targeting of Boys' Love authors. In one case, a policeman from northwestern Lanzhou travelled 2,000 kilometres (more than 1,200 miles) to investigate a writer in her coastal hometown. She was driven to the police station and questioned for hours about her writing. She is currently on bail but could face criminal charges, which would disqualify her from taking China's civil service exam and positions in some hospitals and schools. Another 20-year-old author received a police summons which prompted her to travel hundreds of miles from the city of Chongqing to Lanzhou. On arrival police urged her to 'return the illegal income' she had earned from her writing to reduce her sentence. 'It's a very dirty practice,' said the lawyer, noting the central government in Beijing has issued several directives against it. 'Social awakening' Activists see the crackdown on alleged obscenity as part of a wider push to suppress LGBTQ expression — an effort that has expanded under President Xi Jinping. Embed from Getty Images China classified homosexuality as a crime until 1997 and a mental illness until 2001. Same-sex marriage is not legal and discrimination remains widespread. The Boys' Love genre — often lightly erotic but sometimes overtly explicit — has become increasingly censored as its popularity has boomed. Television adaptations have rewritten male lovers as friends, as same-sex relationships are banned from the screen. In 2018, a writer known by her pseudonym Tianyi was sentenced to over a decade in prison for earning $21,000 from a homoerotic novel about a teacher and his student. Last year, a court in Anhui province heard 12 cases involving spreading obscene content for profit, according to public records which do not give outcomes of the trials. Many in China 'feel less and less space to express themselves freely', said Ge, the lecturer and a longtime reader of Boys' Love. 'It's not just about posting something on social media, it's about reading something in their private life.' As news of the crackdown spread, Haitang users rushed to cancel their accounts. But writer Miu Miu said she has not given up hope she might be able to finish her favourite stories. 'Sexual knowledge has become taboo,' she said. 'This is a social awakening.'
