No Homo

From the front page of ‘Today’, Monday July 6, 2009.

Law minister K Shanmugam, in a dialogue session at Punggol Central Division the day before said Singaporeans were “not ready” for laws criminalizing homosexuality to be repealed.

According to Mr Shanmugam, “There is a group that is actively commited to saying that homosexuality is okay, but probably a majority of Singaporeans are still very conservative and say that this is totally not acceptable. So, the Government has to respect both sides.”

How is this respecting both sides when the decision clearly favours one over the other?
Could it be that the Government is afraid to make a decision that it knows will most likely result in a backlash from the conservatives in Singapore?

Mr Shanmugam continues, saying that the government must “be careful about being ahead of public opinion, if the majority of the population is against homosexuality, then it’s not for the government to say we are going to force something against the wishes of the people”.

That statement is quite obviously just an excuse. I don’t remember that it was the ‘wish of the people’ to raise the GST and yet it still happened, could the government be practicing *gasp* double standards?
And does the government not pride itself on its practicality and the sagacity of its leaders? Has it not been said that the government should for the better of the community introduce laws that might not be popular with the people?

The repeal of this law that bans homosexual acts, would admittedly only benefit a small community in Singapore, but lifting the ban would also not cause a sudden proliferation of homosexuality in Singapore. Are we going to let the unfounded fears of the majority intrude on the rights of the minority to live their lives the way they want to, just so the conservative community can carry on living with their eyes closed, hands over their ears going lalalalalalala.

If the government allows the majority to pressure it not to change a law because in doing so it might result in some kind of social upheaval, then I say that the government has succumbed to terrorism.