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GAY MALAYSIA Due to lingering conservative laws from British colonial rule and Islamic fundamentalism homosexuality in Malaysia is still illegal. The Malaysian Penal Code states that sodomy is punishable by incarceration but in the past this law has been scarcely enforced. Nevertheless, in recent years former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was convicted for committing homosexual acts, a trumped-up, politically motivated charge that was later reversed by Malaysia's high court. Although Malaysian people are in general very friendly and warm Malaysian society is not very tolerant of gays. Gay life up-country is therefore still largely underground but larger cities might have a surprisingly lively gay scene with numerous bars, clubs and even gay saunas. Malaysia's population consists of Malays, Chinese, Indians and some other indigenous people. It totals just over 23 million people, spread over the southern peninsula and the northern one-third of the island of Borneo, officially known as East Malaysia.
KUALA LUMPUR Kuala Lumpur is the Malyasian capital with a population of about 1.5 million people. Kuala Lumpur, also known as KL, is a small but modern city that, during weekends even at night, is notorious for its huge traffic congestions that feel out of proportion to the city's size. These nightly traffic jams are the consequence of the many youths that head out to party in the capital. During the day there are numerous shopping malls where gay men cruise and at night there are several gay bars, clubs and discos.
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