KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — A Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) centre has defended its “awareness” seminar scheduled for later this month, after netizens alleged that the event demonises the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

The seminar by UTM's the Counselling and Career Centre was promoted as emphasising on “3M” - mengenali (identifying), menghadapi (facing), and menangani (handling) - on the community, which netizens criticised as non-neutral language.

“Considering you're using phrases like 'kesedaran' and 'menangani', it clearly indicates that you feel LGBTs are a problem, and you want to solve this by making them realise their mistakes,” asked a Facebook user named Jern Siong on 's page.

“LGBTs are not mistakes. Why not try to 'mengenali, menghadapi and menangani' all those people who hate and discriminate against the community instead?”

“Do LGBT people organise events to “menangani” masalah orang bukan LGBT (problems of non-LGBT)? Don't do dumb things and then try to justify it. A university should not be a place to encourage prejudice/bigotry,” said a user called Inbaraj Suppiah, who claimed to be a UTM alumni.

Individuals from UTM's Counselling and Career Centre, who co-organised the event with the Faculty of Education have however come out saying that seminar will be academic instead of further polarising the community.

“This seminar is all about create awareness among our society ... if you want people respect LGBT, pls respect the other community who are non LGBT... n please tell us, did we mention in this seminar, we will criticise and teach hate towards LGBT etc??” replied the centre on its page.

In addition, a user who called herself Cik Mas stressed that the seminar is just an academic decision which is open to critique, and anybody who wished to present countering arguments on the issue were welcomed to articulate their ideas in an academic tone.

“I emphasise here that this is an open academic seminar, we only welcome academic arguments. Prejudice is never an issue here since this is only a departure for a more concrete discussion. And yes, we highlighted the issue for counselors and lay people to increase their awareness but only if they are open to ideas and justification,” said Cik Mas.

The poster of the event showed four sessions planned for the seminar, which included “Identifying and Understanding LGBT” by Prof Dr Teh Yik Koon from National Defence University of Malaysia, and “LGBT: Impact, Effect and Handling” by Hushim Salleh, former senior counselor from Universiti Malaya (UM).

Two other sessions include “LGBT from the Medical Perspective” by Prof Emeritus Dr Ismail Thambi, an O&G specialist from Damai Servis Hospital, and “LGBT from the Islamic Perspective” by Dr Jahid Sidek, former senior lecturer from UM.

The seminar charges RM50 per head for staff members to attend it, and RM25 for students.

When contacted by The Malay Mail Online, the organiser explained that although the seminar is also directed towards laymen, its primary target audience is for counsellors who would deal with LGBT clients.

“We focus on three approaches ... When we have understood the situation, we explore this LGBT problem and its approach, and try to bring back these LGBT practitioners,” said Nor Hidayat Jamaluddin, who is the programme manager of the seminar.

“We don't just touch from the Islamic aspect. Even from the social aspect, what is the harm, and also what is the harm from the health aspect ... The seminar would touch on how to deal with LGBT clients without letting it spread.”

In September last year, the Education Ministry was forced to deny endorsing any guideline on spotting homosexuality symptoms among schoolchildren, following its then deputy minister’s apparent support for a controversial list that has triggered widespread disapproval.

Then Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi was reported saying that few people understood or knew the early “symptoms” of LGBT community to prevent its spread.

In March this year, Puad had also said that Education Ministry may look into extending parenting seminar on how to curb LGBT to all districts in order to reach out to a wider group.

International news wire Reuters reported the federal government as acknowledging last year that it has been working to curb the homosexuality “problem” prevalent among Muslims who form 60 per cent of the 28 million total population.

While homosexuality in itself is not a crime, it is considered taboo in the religiously-conservative community, including among followers of Islam.