A Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Youth leader has lamented general indifference towards the massacre in Orlando, USA as a greater tragedy than the terrorist act itself.

PSM Youth’s central committee member Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul noted the silence locally over the “shocking” incident involving a gay bar in comparison to similar attacks in Paris or the Middle East.

“What has made me more shocked is how our community has responded to this issue.

“To me this is a greater tragedy compared to what happened in Orlando,” he said in a statement today.

On Sunday a lone terrorist shot at patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, claiming the lives of 50 people and leaving 53 others wounded.

“I expected our society usually known as a caring and courteous, would protest and express abundant sympathy as what had happened in the cases involving Gaza, Syria, Egypt, Rohingya, Tak Bai, Paris, Ambon and many tragedies around the whole world, where we had mourned.

“However this time it was different. The humanity within us is suppressed only because the victims who perished in the horrible incident are from the gay community.

“Only because of our hatred towards gays that we have cast our humanity aside as far as possible,” he said.

Instead, said Nik Aziz, the position adopted here is of silence or indifference, or worse, of rejoicing in the slaughter, adding some would say homosexuals do not deserve to live and deserves to be killed.

'Shallow mentality'

He likened such apathy to those who would feel unmoved by killings in Palestine because the victims are of a different religion from theirs.

Likewise, said Nik Aziz, religious belief on the issue of homosexuality has no bearing on the fact that human beings have been murdered, asking if those in our community are now “playing God” as to who gets to live and who does not.

“This is the shallowness of our mentality. When we lobby the issue of Palestine with non-Muslims, we encourage them to show solidarity in the name of humanity, but when the same question of humanity arises with non-Muslims, we take a hands-off attitude.

“Isn’t it sickening?” he asked.

He said PSM condemns all such violence and offers sympathy to the families of the Orlando shooting victims.

“It doesn’t mean just because we condemn the killings, we suddenly become gay,” said Nik Aziz.