Given the recent spate of sexual crimes committed in the country, it would seem natural that all attention is now focused on sexual deviation. Unfortunately though, homosexuality has also been lumped together as a form of sexual deviation by some politicians and the mass media.

Very amusing 'in-depth studies' on male and female homosexuality were conducted by TV3 and NTV7 and shown recently.

Several experts were roped in to give their views on homosexuality. The fact that these experts were very nearly all Malays (and/or Muslims) is startling indeed.

It begs the question as to why experts of other races and religions were not consulted. This last bit is especially pertinent in view of the fact that an NTV7 journalist proudly proclaimed very recently that all religions condemn homosexuality.

This is indeed amazing as no representatives of other races or religions were consulted. In any case, would anyone care to come to the defence of this journalist and verify his sweeping statement?

As far as I can tell, only the Christian bible overtly condemns gay men and women to hell. Interestingly, the Quran does not mention the word homosexuality even once, not does it specifically describe acts of love between two men.

And even more interesting are some of the most beautiful poetry written by Muslim Sufis which speak of love between two men. Check out Farid Ud-din Attar's 'Conference of the Birds.' Or the poetry of Sa'di, another famous Muslim Sufi.

At the expense of generalising, I must ask if the concern shown by the authorities is due to the fact that a rather large number of these, ahem, 'sexual deviants' seem to be Malay? (at least that is the impression the mass media has given us all).

Would the authorities be equally concerned if a significant number of Chinese or Indians were found to have homosexual tendencies?