[UPDATED] Google removes Jakim’s gay conversion app from Play Store

KUALA LUMPUR – An app developed by the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people return to their “normal” sexual nature has been taken off the Google Play Store.

According to UK news outlet The Guardian, the app named “Hijrah Diri” was removed from the online store after it was found to have breached the platform’s guidelines.

According to Google’s statement to the newspaper, the removal came after the company received a complaint.

“Whenever an app is flagged to us, we investigate against our Play Store policies and if violations are found we take appropriate action to maintain a trusted experience for all,” the internet giant was quoted as saying.

The Play Store’s guidelines state that apps that attempt “to deceive users” or “enable dishonest behaviour”, including apps that are found “to be functionally impossible” are not allowed on the platform.

The app is reported to have been launched in July 2016, but regained attention after Jakim announced its existence on social media this week.

On March 9, Jakim said the app, jointly developed with Yayasan Ihtimam Malaysia, was meant to help the LGBT group “return to fitrah (true nature)”.

In a Facebook post, the department said the app contained an e-book which referred to the experience of a gay individual who “transformed” and left homosexual activities during the Ramadan holy month.

The app has since received brickbats from human rights groups and LGBT activists.

Meanwhile, the vice-president of a Muslim medical and healthcare practitioners’ group called I-Medik, associate professor Dr Rafidah Hanim Mokhtar said that the removal of the app had denied Muslim LGBTs the right to resolve their issues.

“If they repent and change, that is their right, a right to (live in accordance to) religion. The app is also a form of ‘dakwah’ (propagation) that is optional, and not forced on anyone,” Sinar Harian quoted Rafidah as saying.

Conversion therapy is unethical, unscientific and can potentially cause mental and physical harm and must be banned. https://t.co/WeS5KffaE6

— Adeeba Kamarulzaman (@ProfAdeeba) March 17, 2022

Meanwhile, Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, a former dean of University of Malaya's faculty of medicine, criticised treatments for sexual conversion, calling for the practice to be banned.

In a tweet, the infectious diseases expert and president of the International Aids Society said it was “unethical, unscientific and can potentially cause mental and physical harm”.

In a new Facebook post late tonight, Jakim cited a report by Alhijrah Online that claimed the app was taken down due to cyber-attacks.

The report said this was explained by Rafiq Sharman Khamis, the founder of Raxbit, the company that created the app.

The app was established to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups return to their true nature, it stressed.

“However, the app was reportedly cyber-attacked by parties that disagree with its existence," the report said. – The Vibes, March 17, 2022