On Sunday (Nov 6), at the People’s Action Party (PAP) conference, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the opposition has been missing in action on problematic issues such as the upcoming repeal of 377A, the section of the Penal Code that deems sex between men as illegal.
He added that the opposition can’t just “lie low and disappear” when it comes to such issues, adding that Ministers Masagos Zulkifli, K. Shanmugam, Edwin Tong, Desmond Lee and others have been working hard engaging with different groups regarding the matter.
“Now, where is the opposition on S377A? Are they critiquing the Government’s approach? Do they support or oppose what the Government is doing? Are they offering alternative proposals? None of the above.
The opposition is missing in action. They have said nothing so far. They have declined all comment. They refuse even to say whether they have a party position, or if they will lift the whip on MPs when Parliament votes on the amendments, which is going to be done at the end of this month,” he added.
The announcement that Section 377A is to be repealed was one of the highlights of PM Lee’s National Day Rally speech in August.
At that time, the country’s foremost opposition party, The Workers’ Party, issued a statement in response to the Prime Minister’s speech, saying that it recognises “the fundamental right of people to live free from fear and discrimination and to be treated equally under the law.”
However, the statement also said that while Section 377A and other issues surrounding the definition of marriage are important, Singaporeans are also facing other issues, such as inflation, the high cost of living, and the increase in Goods and Services Taxes (GST).
In a Reddit thread, however, some netizens said they agreed with PM Lee.
“Politicking he may be but he’s not wrong that the WP has been relatively quiet on their party position on 377A,” one wrote.
Another, however, wrote, “Who is PM Lee kidding, he’s not going to convince anyone the PAP is the brave liberal party.”
However, some members of the WP appear to have taken a stand supporting the LGBTQ community in Singapore, such as Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim, who attended the Pink Dot rally last June, albeit in a personal capacity.
WP Youth Wing President Nicole Seah, who has been involved with on-ground activities in East Coast GRC for the past few years, also attended Pink Dot in 2011, while she was still a member of the National Solidarity Party.
Pink Dot, the largest annual gathering of the LGBTQ community in Singapore since 2009, has been calling for the repeal of Section 377A for years now.
Other opposition parties have openly expressed support for the repeal of 377A, including the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) which made a statement to that effect as early as 2007.
Dr Chee Soon Juan, the party’s current secretary-general, attended the 2011 Pink Dot rally with his family.
Newer opposition parties have also spoken up.
In 2020, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) said that it supports repeal of 377A in principle, and this year, Ms Jess Chua, who heads Progress Singapore Party’s youth wing, attended the gathering.
Red Dot United recently reaffirmed its stand on the repeal of 377A.
The party said on its official Facebook last weekend that “Just like the wider community, members of Red Dot United have differing views on the issue and we can understand that some of these views are informed by cultural and religious opinions.”
The repeal will be debated by members of parliament at the end of the month before taking a vote on the matter.
/TISG
https://theindependent.sg/1-attended-quietly-1-attended-making-sure-the-entire-nation-knows-about-it-netizens-compare-appearances-of-jamus-lim-henry-kweks-at-pink-dot/