Image by Copilot
By Dr Rahim Said
Just when we thought Malaysia had exhausted all possible ways of embarrassing itself on the world stage — from flying cars that never fly to leaders who discover corruption only after joining government — along comes a new scientific breakthrough.
According to one of our ministers, work stress makes people gay.
Yes, stress. Not biology. Not psychology. Not human diversity.
But stress.
Apparently, after too many KPIs, deadlines and late-night meetings, a hardworking Malaysian might wake up one morning and — poof — experience a change in sexual orientation.
Darwin must be rolling in his grave.
Since my last column, “Does Work Stress Make You Gay?”, I’ve received reactions from as far away as Hollywood, California.
Comedians, scriptwriters and ordinary Americans — who already think Malaysian politics is a reality show — are now enjoying Malaysia’s latest export: viral stupidity.
One joked,
“If stress made people gay, Wall Street would be the world’s largest LGBTQ district.”
Another quipped,
“No wonder Malaysia has traffic jams — everyone is rushing home before overtime changes their orientation.”
Malaysia is now officially part of the global comedy circuit.
To add international seasoning to the embarrassment, a foreign commentator even shared an altered dramatic photo of the minister delivering his ‘discovery’ at our august Assembly — silhouette, microphone, spotlight — like a revolutionary thinker announcing a new law of nature.
Newton discovered gravity with an apple. Our minister discovered sexuality with stress. Lol.
The headline read: “Work Stress Makes People Gay – Malaysian Minister’s Claim Faces Backlash.”
Backlash is a polite word.
What followed was worldwide laughter. But beneath the humour lies something worrying. This wasn’t a joke in a kopitiam.
This was a statement by a national leader — someone tasked with shaping policy, guiding youth and representing Malaysian intellect.
Instead, we offered pseudoscience.
Correlation was magically transformed into causation. Stress exists. Gay people exist. Therefore — in this minister’s logic — one must cause the other.
By that same brilliant reasoning:
Stress causes baldness. Stress causes corruption. Stress causes potholes. Stress probably caused our football team to lose.
Why stop there?
Let’s blame stress for inflation, too. The real danger isn’t ridicule alone.
It’s how easily nonsense is used to justify prejudice. Sexual orientation is not an occupational hazard.
You don’t clock in straight and clock out gay. No HR department issues with that memo.
When leaders reduce complex human identity into a ridiculous stress side-effect, it feeds ignorance, stigma and cheap political applause.
And the world is watching. Hollywood noticed. Foreign media noticed. Social media noticed.
While other countries export technology and innovation, Malaysia is exporting viral absurdity.We used to worry about brain drain. Now we should worry about the common sense drain.
The tragedy is that real worker issues were completely ignored. Stress does harm Malaysians — through burnout, broken families, mental health struggles and declining productivity.
But instead of addressing long hours, low wages and work-life balance, we were served a moral panic lecture on sexuality.
Talk about misplaced priorities. Our people are exhausted. Healthcare is strained. The cost of living is soaring.
But sure — let’s blame stress for turning people gay. That will surely fix the economy.
If laughter is the best medicine, Malaysia has just cured the world’s depression. Unfortunately, we cured it by becoming the joke.