Newspaper Het Reformatorisch Dagblad, which takes an orthodox Protestant line, has written an editorial in which it says it is a ‘shame’ the president of Malawi was so quick to ‘kneel down’ and pardon a gay couple who had been sentenced to 14 years in jail.

‘If the citizens of Malawi want to know where this trail ends, they only need to follow political reporting in the Netherlands for a while,’ the paper said. The paper is referring to efforts by D66 to close a loophole allowing religious schools in the Netherlands to refuse to employ gay teachers.
‘A large majority in parliament support this proposal and this will not change after the election,’ the paper wrote.
‘It cannot be ruled out that here the opposite will happen to what has happened in Malawi: not people who are openly homosexual will be punished, but the Christians and Muslims who name that behaviour a sin.’
The paper asks if UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon, who put pressure on Malawi to pardon the couple, will be prepared to address the Dutch parliament and support people who are religious against such intolerance.