A ‘Beauty and the Beast’ poster is seen at a cinema in Kuala Lumpur March 22, 2017. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Several Islamist activists were incensed after news broke yesterday that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast will be screened in Malaysia with no cuts after all, despite the Film Censorship Board’s (LPF) concern over several “gay moments”.

The activists reiterated that the film is part of a process to normalise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) while desensitising the public, and warned that it may cause children to turn to sexual crimes from the exposure.

“This is a normalisation process of something that is abnormal so society will be accustomed to a disease, until they feel that it is not a disease but an identity that must be accepted by society and with pride by its practitioners,” Multiracial Reverted Muslims founder Firdaus Wong Wai Hung said on his Facebook page.

“Isn’t it weird that LGBT, which the majority of the world’s religions do not agree with, but is promoted such so society will accept it, but polygamy that is accepted by the majority of world’s religions is opposed completely as if it is a crime?”

Most major religions have nothing against polygamy except Catholicism, but it is only legal in 58 out of nearly 200 countries worldwide. In some countries, polygamy is not only illegal, but also criminalised.

Firdaus also said on his Facebook page that the news has strengthened his group’s ambition to launch its own news outlet with only 100 per cent Shariah-compliant content, quoting a post by Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) vice-president Prof Dr Zainur Rashid Zainuddin.

In his own Facebook post, Dr Zainur had claimed that the decision was caused by the LPF being “devoured” by so-called liberals.

Promotional material advertising the ‘Power Rangers’ movie is seen in a cinema in Kuala Lumpur March 22, 2017. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily reported today a narrow 9-8 vote in favour of the Disney live action remake of its animated classic to be screened uncensored here, following a five-hour discussion among the LPF appeals committee.

Another activist with the women’s wing of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), Dr Nur Fatiha Kamarzaman, claimed that the film’s “gay moments” are targeted at children and “systematically plotted to blunt norms and subconscious minds”.

“How can we stop paedophiles, assaults and thousands of perverts if at the same time we allow these foreign movies groom our future generation?” asked the activist from Isma’s Dungun chapter.

“There will be more Richard Huckles born and yet Malaysia acts as innocent of not knowing this paedophilia has going on for years,” she added, referring the British paedophile who was sentenced for abusing among others 23 Malaysian kids.

It was previously uncertain if Beauty and the Beast would be screened here, following Disney Malaysia’s refusal to cut scenes involving a gay character as proposed by LPF.

LPF chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid had previously explained that the board had proposed cuts of four minutes and 38 seconds from the remake, after its director Bill Condon was reported as saying the live action contained Disney’s “exclusively gay moment”.

The live-action reboot of Power Rangers will also start showing tomorrow with no cuts, following concerns after reports emerged that the movie will feature Hollywood’s first gay superhero.