Gay Malaysia

From Bangkok Post Malaysia has relaxed restrictions, including mask mandates and testing at airports, as the Southeast Asian nation adjusts to living with Covid-19. The country is scrapping mandatory virus tests on all incoming vaccinated travellers beginning May 1, an exemption it had initially bestowed to Singapore alone. Wearing masks outdoors will also be optional and physical distancing is no longer required, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a televised briefing Wednesday. The announcement marks another significant milestone for Malaysia since it reopened its borders this month and waived quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors. The ea…

From Channel News Asia KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will fully reopen its borders on Apr 1 as the country begins to transition to the COVID-19 endemic phase, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Tuesday (Mar 8). Speaking at a press conference, he explained that with this development, international travellers entering Malaysia would only need to have valid travel documents to enter and exit the country, and Malaysians can travel freely to other countries with similar open borders. He added that foreign travellers will no longer need to apply via the MyTravelPass mechanism, and only had to download the MySejahtera contact tracing application. He said:…

From Malay Mail PUTRAJAYA, March 5 ― New air Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) involving Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia will begin on March 15, 2022 as part of joint efforts to reopen international borders. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed to travel the designated routes without being required to quarantine upon arrival. Wee said that as for Thailand, designated airlines from both countries will be allowed to mount up to six flights daily on the Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok route and up to four flights daily for the Kuala Lumpur-Phuket route while additional routes may be added subject to mutual agreement by …

From Channel News Asia BANGKOK: Thailand and Malaysia agreed to expedite quarantine-free travels across the borders for travellers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Thai Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday (Feb 25) after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Bangkok. “We share the hope that fully vaccinated people will soon be able to travel between Thailand and Malaysia without quarantine, while following public health measures of both sides,” stated Gen Prayut during a joint press conference at the Government House in Bangkok. According to Mr Ismail Sabri, quarantine-free air travels (VTL-Air) between Kuala Lump…

From time to time this Board has featured articles about KL and Malaysia. I have written before how over the years I have found KL very cruisy, despite it being a predominantly Muslim country and the occasional raids on some gay venues (mostly saunas and massage places) that we read about. Yet, the whole issue of homosexuality has been discussed by Malaysians far more often in the last 11 years than was ever the case before. The reason is a long running sexual saga which looks like it will soon come to a second climax. It involves high political figures and allegations of homosexuality. So far, it has received scant attention on this Board. In 1998, one of the mo…

From The Thaiger / Reuters Following moves from other Southeast Asian countries, like Thailand, to gradually reopen borders, Malaysia is considering a full reopening of borders starting March 1, allowing vaccinated travellers to enter without mandatory quarantine requirements. The plan is to speed up the country’s economic recovery, according to its coronavirus recovery council today. The Southeast Asian country that shut down its borders in March 2020 has recently allowed Singaporeans to enter without quarantine as part of a bilateral agreement. A government advisory body said travellers would be subjected to Covid-19 screening prior to departure and upon arriv…

From The Star BANGKOK, Oct 17 (Bernama): Discussions will be held to add Malaysia in the list of low-risk countries where fully vaccinated visitors will skip the 14-day mandatory quarantine when entering Thailand. Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand Datuk Jojie Samuel said Thailand wanted to end quarantine for fully vaccinated visitors from low-risk countries travelling by air starting Nov 1, as the Covid-19 situation in Thailand continued to improve. However, Malaysia is not included in the list. "Malaysia’s infection has dropped due to higher vaccination rate. To date, more than 90 per cent of the adult population in Malaysia have completed their COVID-…

From The Straits Times The palace issued a statement saying Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah has consented to appoint Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pictured) as prime minister and will swear him in at 2.30pm on Aug 21, 2021.PHOTO: BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's King confirmed on Friday (Aug 20) that Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be the country's ninth prime minister, after a brief meeting with the country's other state rulers. Minutes after the "special discussion" concluded at around 4.30pm at Istana Negara, the palace issued a statement saying that Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah "has consented to appoint Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri" and will s…

From Bangkok Post Malaysia's government will not extend a controversial coronavirus state of emergency beyond Aug 1, a minister said Monday, as parliament convened after a months-long suspension that sparked widespread anger. The king in January declared the country's first nationwide state of emergency in more than half a century to fight Covid-19, following the advice of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. It allowed the government to rule by decree and suspend parliament, prompting critics to accuse Muhyiddin of using the crisis to avoid a no-confidence vote and shore up his weak coalition. Despite the emergency and a nationwide lockdown, the outbreak …

From Channel News Asia KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported a record of 6,806 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday (May 20), as the country continues to battle a third wave of infections. This is the second consecutive day that Malaysia has logged record numbers of daily cases since the pandemic began. On Wednesday, the country saw 6,075 new COVID-19 cases, the highest since Jan 30. Of the 6,806 infections reported on Thursday, 2,277 cases were from Selangor and 615 cases from Johor. Kuala Lumpur saw 655 new cases, the health ministry said. There were also a record 59 fatalities, bringing the national death toll to 2,099. This is the fourth time Malaysia…

From Channel News Asia KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said that he would issue a directive to prevent police officers and personnel from conducting random checks on foreigners without valid reason. He said that this was to prevent a handful of police officers and personnel from abusing their powers at will. Mr Acryl Sani was speaking at a special press conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters on Thursday (May 6), his first since taking over as the new police chief on Tuesday. “I will issue a directive to stop the act immediately, which is to inspect them (foreigners) randomly without a re…

https://coconuts.co/kl/news/selangors-law-against-gay-sex-unconstitutional-federal-court/ That's great news from Malaysia. I admit I am somewhat (very pleasantly!!) surprised, that a court there would stand up to the religious powers and tell them to stay out of people's private lives. Congratulations @spoon! And maybe you can comment on how surprising (or not) this is.

From Reuters By Liz Lee KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's AirAsia X Bhd , the long-haul arm of AirAsia Group Bhd , said it wanted to restructure $15.3 billion of debt and slash its share capital by 90% to continue as a going concern. Hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic as closed borders have grounded most of its planes, the budget airline said it had severe liquidity constraints and, with no return to normalcy in sight, added, "Imminent default of contractual commitments will precipitate a potential liquidation." Its statement late on Tuesday came just days after Malaysia Airlines, the other major carrier, said it was very low on c…

From the Malay Mail KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 -- British Airways has resumed flying into and out of Kuala Lumpur starting today even as the Covid-19 virus continues circle the globe. Six months after suspending its operations, the flagship carrier for the United Kingdom said it will resume its four flights a week from Kuala Lumpur to the UK and other parts of the world. “After a long period of uncertainty caused by the global pandemic, we are glad to be able to offer four flights a week from Kuala Lumpur to London Heathrow,” Moran Birger, the airlines’ head of sales for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, said in a statement. “We know many of our customers in …

From The Diplomat A lowered voting age, and rising discontent with the country’s rusted-on political elite, are stimulating youth involvement in politics. By Crystal Teoh On July 5 and 6, a group of Malaysian youth associations successfully organized a virtual mock parliament. This event, known as Parlimen Digital, saw the involvement of 222 young Malaysians representing actual constituencies, who came together online to debate a range of topics, ranging from economic challenges to the state of the country’s education system. The initiative was born of the dissatisfaction about the government’s decision not to hold a virtual parliament sitting, despite the …

From Channel News Asia PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian government will impose an entry ban on citizens from countries with more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases starting from Sep 7, said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Thursday (Sep 3). Countries on the list include the United States, Brazil, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Bangladesh, he said. On Tuesday, Malaysia announced that long-term pass holders who are citizens of India, Indonesia and the Philippines will be barred from entering the country effective Sep 7. The decision was made after considering the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases within the three countries, sa…

From Bangkok Post Indonesia’s Lion Air, which suspended all of its scheduled domestic flights late last month, said it will remain grounded indefinitely -- including international services -- because of the impact coronavirus-related restrictions have had on travel. The carrier, whose slogan is “we make people fly”, is grounding its fleet from Friday, it said in a statement. Lion Air has 138 aircraft, according to a spokesperson, and a route network throughout Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Its units Batik Air and Wings Air, which have a combined fleet of 140 planes, also won’t fly. Indonesia banned air …

From CNN (CNN)Two gay women have been caned in Malaysia amid a worsening climate for LGBT individuals in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation. The punishment of the two unnamed women took place Monday morning in Terengganu, a state to the east of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, according to rights campaigner Thilaga Sulathireth. The state is governed by Sharia law. Each woman was lashed six times after being caught attempting to have sex in a parked car. They were also required to pay a fine of 3,300 ringgit ($800). Sulathireth, who witnessed the caning along with around 100 other people, told CNN that it was a "public caning to all intents and purposes," a…

In light of recent development of multiple hot issues surrounding lgbt in malaysia, i feel i need to give some updates on what I perceive happens to the places i visit and those in the news as well. There are several postings already about the famous blueboy bar being raided as well as lgbt activist poster being removed as well as the canning, so i wont be talking about those. Anyway, even before these issues becoming a hot topic of discussion, gay scene here has always been subdued and relatively underground. Nevertheless we have lgbt artists, icons, activist, that is still free to talk, not being arrested etc. And even those illegal act of gay massage centers, gay s…

From The Nation Kuala Lumpur - The Malaysian government came under fire Thursday for ordering the removal of two LGBT activists' portraits from an exhibition, with campaigners labelling it an attack on the "dignity" of the gay community. The photos of Nisha Ayub and Pang Khee Teik were taken down from display at an arts festival in the northern state of Penang this week following the government order, festival organisers confirmed. Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia often take a dim view of homosexuality, and the country retains its colonial-era ban on sodomy. Officials have been criticised for introducing programmes directed at the …

Does anyone have anything good to say about Gay Malaysia? I was thinking of visiting, but the lack of recent info here does not comfort. For that matter, what is here does not comfort!

From Bangkok Post Kuala Lumpur: A stereotype-laden checklist for spotting gay men and lesbian women published by a popular Malaysian newspaper has sparked outrage in the Muslim-majority nation, with activists warning it could endanger lives. The Malay-language tabloid Sinar Harian claimed gay men love to go to the gym -- just to check out other men -- wear tight clothes to show off their physiques and tend to sport beards, while their eyes widen when they see handsome men. Lesbians, the paper said, "hate men" and enjoy hugging. The list, published Friday, was swiftly met with derision online, while campaigners warned it could further stoke animosity agains…

Any tips on KL pharmacies to buy Viagra/Sidegra/Kamagra without prescription?

Hi, I am planning my first trip to Malaysia in April and am looking for recommendations of where to stay and massage places to visit. For privacy, I am currently thinking of booking an airbnb apartment. Which area do you think is close to the actions :-) ? Thanks

Spend my time this week in KUL. Since a day or 2 this site, most populair among Malays for hookups, has been blocked on all computers i tried and this also mentioned on the trevvy forum. No reason for this known. Could be interpreted as yet another move to make life harder for PLU.