COMMENT | Was the Ministry of Health's recent competition, to "prevent homosexuality", a contributory factor in the attack against 18-year-old T Nhaveen? Did his bullies beat him to make sure he was macho and a "real man"?

When it was first announced, activists warned the authorities that the LGBT community would be further traumatised and that there would be increased hatred and loathing for them.

This competition offered cash prizes, ranging from RM1,000 to RM4,000, for those who could produce the best anti-LGBT videos. There is no doubt that the videos helped fuel more intolerance against the LGBT community. The openly discriminatory move by the ministry should not have been allowed. [Editor's note: The health ministry updated the terminology used in the video contest on June 7, a week before Nhaveen was assaulted. Details here.]

Over the past three months, three students have died from being beaten. Nhaveen had been hit with crash helmets, burnt and sodomised with a blunt object. He would have started college life this Thursday, in Kuala Lumpur, to study music.

Nhaveen had been bullied at school, and at the end of his shift work, his former school bullies assaulted him, for being "effeminate".

Bullying takes many forms, and you need not be effeminate to be beaten. If you are by nature quiet and reserved, it is enough for some bullies to target you, perhaps because you are perceived to lack the gumption to fight back....