A women in a bazaar in Kuala Lumpur
© AFP/File KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The National Fatwa Council late Thursday issued its ruling following a two-day meeting that discussed recent cases of young women apparently behaving like men and exhibiting homosexual tendencies, state news agency Bernama reported.
Council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin told Bernama many young women admired the way men dress, behave and socialise, violating human nature and denying their femininity.
"It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear," Abdul Shukor was quoted as saying.
"(Masculine behaviour) becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman," he said.
"In view of this, the National Fatwa Council which met today have decided and taken the stand that such acts are forbidden and banned," he said.
Male homosexuality, considered against the order of nature, is illegal in Malaysia but lawyers say female homosexuality is technically permissible as there are no provisions for it under the law.
The Fatwa Council does not have jurisdiction in civil law, but the ruling appears to be an attempt to push female homosexuality towards illegality.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays who practice a conservative brand of the religion.
©AFP