Singapore’s anti-gay sex law, Section 377A of the Penal Code, has been the talk of the town recently when the Ready4Repeal campaign was launched to repeal the law in Singapore only to face strong pushback from conservatives. (And comments calling gay people “unnatural af”.)
Now, the leader of a key opposition party has thrown his hat into the ring, as Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh reiterated how his party will also not call for the repeal of the law.
“There is no consensus within the party’s central executive committee on the issue,” said Pritam. “Even within the party at large, views differ on the matter, a microcosm of Singapore society.”
He made these remarks at the National University of Singapore’s Political Association Forum 2019 on Wednesday evening and uploaded his speech on his Facebook page on Friday.
In his speech, Pritam said his party will not take part in “the culture war over LGBT issues” because it is “prejudicial to the common good of our society”.
“We seek to rise above (the issue) because the moral courage required to address the issue of Section 377A is not in reveling in the glory of taking absolute stances on what we believe is right, but in lowering ourselves, swallowing our pride and listening to another,” he said.
A culture war has been brewing in Singapore between conservatives and liberals, said Pritam, and Section 377A has become the “symbolic lightning rod” to distinguish which camp you belonged to.
While conservatives call their campaign pro-family and liberals call their campaign as a right to love, Pritam said the simplicity of both campaigns means both sides are unable to fully understand each other’s frustrations.
“As currently framed, 377A generates a lot of heat, but sheds very little light,” he said.
The fault in each campaign
With the conservative campaign, Pritam noted that the focus on Section 377A was “disproportionate” and “tangential” to the main struggles of raising a family in today’s economy and society.
He brought up an Institute of Policy Studies survey which revealed that infidelity and cheating are the main concerns about marriages today, among other woes such as divorces on the rise and young people delaying marriages.
“We need to focus on the larger issues besetting Singaporean families… it is not useful to deploy the family to defend Section 377A,” he commented on how the Singapore government should be handling the conservative viewpoint.
With the liberal campaign, Pritam argued that the campaign implicitly suggests that anyone who aligns to conservative values hates the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Thus, he believed that the liberal campaign “weaponized the concept of love for many of those in the middle, particularly those who do not take a position on the matter”.
“Instead of considering the tremendous contributions people of faith, including Christians and Muslims have made on society and helping those in need and providing a sacred canopy for the faithful, some of respected religious figures and friends are singularly judged through their views on section 377A,” he said.
Politicising 377A will worsen societal divisions: Pritam
Although his party is against hate speech in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, Pritam said matters such as Section 377A may worsen societal divisions if it is made into a political issue.
He raised several concerns on how the law’s debate could be worsened even more:
- If any political party spoke in favour or against it
- If political leaders begin taking sides due to the majority vote instead of strengthening common space
- If Section 377A became the main voting issue distinguishing politicians in elections
“Do we want Section 377A to define the ballot box and determine elections?” he said.
Pritam then brought up five suggestions to handle the matter without letting it become a political issue or dragging political parties into the discussion:
- Focus on families, including defining the family to be an “enlightened and inclusive one”
- Never politicize the issue, by asking WP members not to pander to conservatives and liberals
- Continue the dialogue, by having debates tempered with mutual respect for each other
- Respect individual conscience, including respecting a person’s religious, spiritual and philosophical beliefs
- Rise above the culture war, by not fighting over who is more right than the other
The reactions
In a reaction to the speech on Saturday, New Naratif editor-in-chief Kirsten Han called Pritam out for claiming the issue could not be politicized when it is already political in nature.
Said Kirsten: “The Workers’ Party might be able to choose not to “politicize” the issue, but LGBT Singaporeans never got that choice. So guess what? It’s not an issue that needs to be “politicized”—it’s already political. And what we’re looking for is some moral courage from the only elected officials who can actually do something about the damn law.”
Although commenter Lian Chuan Yeoh wrote on Pritam’s Facebook page that he advocates for the law’s repeal, he said: “Where I certainly do agree with you is on the need to listen with the mindset that one could be wrong or need to adapt, and also on the fact that this one issue does not define us as a people.”
