''Asmara Songsang'' (''Abnormal Desire'' or ''Deviant Love'') is a 2013 Malaysian play written by Adam Rahman. The play, which is anti-LGBT, received support from the Malaysian government and had Malaysian actors and actresses in its cast.Hetrick, Adam.
Anti-Gay Musical Abnormal Desire Tours Malaysian Schools

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Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

''. 29 March 2013. Retrieved on 29 August 2015. Rahman argued that homosexuality would spread across Malaysia if it was not countered. He was 73 at the time he wrote the play. The play was released prior to national elections, and opposition leader

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim (; born 10 August 1947), also known by his abbreviation as DSAI and PMX, is a Malaysian politician who is the 10th prime minister of Malaysia since 2022. A member of the People's Justice Party (Malaysia), People's Justice P ...

had been accused of sodomy.

Plot

The play's main characters are three friends who are LGBT. They have casual sex, take recreational drugs and hold parties. Their neighbours dislike their behaviour and attempt to get them to follow Islamic practices; the friends who refuse to change their behavior get struck by lightning and die. At the end the cast members sing an anthem for the unity of Malaysia.Hodal, Kate.
Anti-gay musical tours Malaysian schools and universities

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The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. 28 March 2013. Retrieved on 29 March 2015.

Cast

The cast of the 2013 production included

Abby Rossidi Abby or Abbie is a given name, most often a shortened form of Abigail and Albert. Notable women * Abbie Betinis (born 1980), American composer * Abby Binay (born 1975), Filipino politician * Abbie Boudreau (born 1979), American television ...

Jalaluddin Hassan Jalaluddin bin Hassan (born 18 February 1954) is a Malaysian actor and television host. He is famously known for being the host of the Malaysian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? game show in Malay on NTV7 (2000–2002). Background ...

, Kamal Adli, Razak Ahmad, Radhi Khalid,

Najwa P. Ramlee Najwa may refer to: People Given name * Najwa Karam (born 1966), Lebanese actress and singer * Najwa Ghanem, wife of Osama bin Laden * Najwa Najjar, Palestinian filmmaker * Najwa Nimri (born 1972), Spanish actress * Najwa Latif (born 1995), Malaysi ...

, and

Julia Ziegler Julia Ziegler (born 21 May 1984) is a Malaysian actress and model. Ziegler got her start as a model and actress for Malaysian TV commercials. She has appeared on the covers of local magazines and has also acted in television series' for the Ma ...

Release

''Asmara Songsang'' opened in March 2013 at the

Istana Budaya The ''Istana Budaya'' or also known as the ''Palace of Culture'', is Malaysia's main venue for all types of theatre including musical theatre, operetta, classical concerts and opera from local and international performances. It is located in t ...

, the national theatre in Kuala Lumpur. The play was released on a tour of Malaysian universities, teachers' colleges, and schools.

Reception

Human rights groups and some persons who watched the play criticized it, saying that it was divisive. S. Thilaga of Seksualiti Merdeka wrote that "We are extremely concerned that such damaging messages and misrepresentation will increase violence toward the community, sthe LGBT community is already subject to multiple forms of violence and persecution by the state."Lee, Steve.
Anti-gay state-sponsored musical in Malaysia provokes outrage
"
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. '' LGBT Weekly''. Friday March 29, 2013. Retrieved on August 29, 2015. Rahman claimed that the play had an overall positive reception, and said: "If anyone said I tried to create hateful feelings, then I say no, I didn’t do that at all. I always do good things."

References

External links

* Othman, Kemalia.
'Asmara Songsang' Akan Dipentaskan Di IPT
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MStar MStar Semiconductor, Inc. () was a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company specializing in mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies, based in Hsinchu Hsien. MStar made hardware for multimedia and wireless communications, in the form of display ...

''. Saturday 2 March 2013. * Mohamad, Zaidi (2013)
Teater Asmara Songsang jelajah ke seluruh negara: Pementasan berkaitan isu LGBT dapat sambutan hebat di Istana Budaya
'. (17 March 2013). in

Berita Minggu ''Berita Harian'' ( Malay for "Daily News") is the sole Malay-language broadsheet newspaper published in Singapore. It is published daily from Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday as ''Berita Minggu'' ( Malay: "Sunday News"). It was founded on 1 Jul ...

, pp. 16-17. - Hosted by the

Universiti Utara Malaysia Universiti Utara Malaysia (literally meaning Northern University of Malaysia, abbreviated as UUM or UNIUTAMA) is a public management university in Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia. It also has a branch campus in Kuala Lumpur. Its main campus, which is ...

*
Index of articles about the play by
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Astro Awani Astro Awani is a Malaysian news channel, founded by and currently broadcast through streaming service and pay TV provider owned by Astro Awani Network Sdn. Bhd. and operated by Astro. It broadcasts an array of programmes including bulletins, b ...

'' * {{in lang, ms Raziatul Hanum A. Rajak.
Teater Asmara Songsang kupas isu LGBT

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Sinar Harian ''Sinar Harian'' (''Daily Light'') is a Malay-language daily newspaper published in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia in a compact format. It first hit the newsstands on 31 July 2006 in the East Coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu before expand ...

''. 14 February 2013. * Yee, Jackson CS.
Musical on LGBT is in poor taste

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(Opinion). ''

Free Malaysia Today Free Malaysia Today (FMT) is an independent, bilingual news online portal with content, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), with a focus on Malaysian current affairs, published since 2009.

''. April 2, 2013. *
Musical with negative portrayal of LGBT people tours Malaysia

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''. 18 February 2013. * Ali, Alia.
Oh, Inverted World

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. ''Kakiseni''. 12 March 2013. - This blog entry is referred to by ''