Urging Education Minister Ong Ye Kung to oppose calls to repeal Section 377A which criminalises gay sex, former National University of Singapore (NUS) Law Dean Dr Thio Su Mien has compared gay sex to “pedophilia, incest, necrophilia and bestiality” in an open letter to the parliamentarian.
In her letter which is cc’d to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the rest of his Cabinet, the self-described “feminist mentor” characterised those who call for the repeal of 377A as “insidious” proponents who also support “pedophilia, incest, necrophilia and bestiality”.
Although Dr Thio was the first woman to become the law dean of NUS, she is perhaps best known as one of the key figures who orchestrated the aggressive takeover of gender equality advocacy group AWARE almost a decade ago, in 2009.
Dr Thio was a prominent member of a group of women (and some men) with strong anti-LGBT and right-wing Christian leanings who were accused of hijacking the advocacy group in what the media dubbed the “AWARE saga” in an attempt to impose their questionable agenda.
The new exco was eventually ousted after a vote of no confidence was passed at an extraordinary general meeting.
The media reported that the loudest boos at the meeting were reserved for Dr Thio, who reportedly had to wrangle a microphone to speak, and that it appeared as though “the wind had been knocked out of her sails” the old guard was reinstated with overwhelming support.
Since the saga, Dr Thio has been contacting political leaders to share her views on issues pertaining to sexuality. In 2014, Dr Thio wrote an open letter to the Minister for Health when the Health Promotion Board released a Sexuality FAQ.
Dr Thio released a new open letter yesterday, as calls for the Government to repeal the colonial-era law criminalising gay sex continue to intensify. While such calls have been prevalent in Singapore for years, prominent establishment figures have now joined the chorus of voices calling for a repeal of s377A.
Read the “Feminist Mentor’s” latest open letter in full here:
“Dear Minister Ong,
I refer to the ST article “S’pore in midst of far-reaching revolution in education” (ST, Saturday 15, 2018).
In response to the question how education may have to change as jobs are transformed by technology’ , you stressed that ‘certain fundamentals will remain the same, including starting with a foundation of values, literacy and numeracy skills.’
I agree that there is a foundation of values in our education system and that this is undergirded by the foundational values of our nation. It is therefore imperative that we articulate the basic values on which our nation had thrived. These basic values do not change.
Right from the beginning, as Singapore developed into a trading centre, a legal system was put in place to bring order. The administrators of the courts set up were directed to administer the law with ‘Justice and Right’ as prescribed by the Second Charter of
Justice (9 August 1827).
On independence, our founding fathers enshrined this concept of righteousness and justice in the Constitution of Singapore (9 August 1965) and adhered to a policy of non- corruption in its endeavours and our nation has prospered because of such values. This anticorruption
policy, was stringently applied to the public service which also embodied sexual immorality. We see this operating in public service and we see it still operating recently when a Speaker of Parliament had to resign for adultery.
Some Clarifications
1. In light of the importance of morality undergirding our society, and compliance with strict standards of corporate governance, it is troubling that a prominent diplomat from MFA called for a class action to repeal section 377A of the Penal Code when the Government had made it clear that it was taking a ‘middle’ ground. A clarification is required.
2. Furthermore, the impression was created by the media that many holders of public office in public institutions (like SMU, NUS and IPS) had petitioned for the repeal of section 377A without the caveat that this was in their personal capacity. It is not clear whether this
non-adherence to good governance was an omission of the public officers or the failure of the media to mention it, bearing in mind that one public officer did make a point that he was speaking in his personal capacity. A clarification would clear the air as Singapore has always maintained and required a high standard of public morality in public office.
This is pertinent because our institutions of higher learning should be beacons of light and should not degenerate into lewdness as evidenced by their highly sexualized orientation activities in recent years. See “Under the Angsana Tree” and photographs in the article
showing sexual stances including an incestuous rape scene.
I understand, that the university authorities had to stop the orientation programme and institute disciplinary actions.
Have university orientation games gone too far?
3. Understanding the legal effect of Section 377A
In 2008, President Nathan announced in Parliament that the heterosexual family, man, woman and children is the basic building block of Singapore – love and procreation. The call for s377A to be abolished is based on the argument that it is discriminatory because if a man and a woman love each other, they can have sex, get married, nurture and raise a family.
Similarly, why can’t a male/male who love each other, have the same freedom to love as a man/woman .The reason is that they cannot procreate. Legally, this is differential treatment and is constitutional. Similarly, pedophilia, incest, necrophilia and bestiality which are criminalized are regarded as differential treatment under the Constitution and not discriminatory.
Thus for those who advocate the decriminalisation of s377A, they are also advocating the abolition of pedophilia, incest, necrophilia and bestiality. There is already much call in other countries to also abolish pedophilia, incest and bestiality.
This is what the 377A debate is all about in the ultimate analysis.
Revolution in Education
Following from this, in planning the future direction of our Education, it would be necessary to bear in mind the deleterious effect of the Homosexual Agenda in our planning. We should be aware of the insidious ways in which the proponents of this agenda seek to
infiltrate our system. MOE had been infiltrated once in its sex education. It would be desirable for parents to be kept informed of developments in the schools to encourage their support.
It would be helpful to look at what is happening in other countries which have decriminalized homosexuality. Taiwan is a small example Taiwan is engaged in building a new society with same sex marriage and the following are some developments
1. Children are registered not with the names of their fathers and mothers, but spouse 1 and spouse 2;
2. Schools must have gender friendly restrooms i.e. boys and girls share the same restrooms
3. Public facilities should have genderless toilets shared by men and women, boys and girls;
4. Primary school kids are taught to be aware of their sexual inclinations and how to have safe sex;
5 It is against the law not to teach accordingly and teachers who resist would be sued.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Do we want to go in this direction and crash into the moral chaos of past failed civilizations or be anchored on the sure foundation of our heritage and from there seek the trajectory that will bring success to our nation and enable it to fulfill its destiny?
I wish you all success to your endeavours
Dr. Thio Su Mien
Pioneer Generation
20 September 2018″