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On Sunday (Nov 6), on the Individuals’s Motion Occasion (PAP) convention, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned that the opposition has been lacking in motion on problematic points such because the upcoming repeal of 377A, the part of the Penal Code that deems intercourse between males as unlawful.
He added that the opposition can’t simply “lie low and disappear” in relation to such points, including that Ministers Masagos Zulkifli, Okay. Shanmugam, Edwin Tong, Desmond Lee and others have been working arduous partaking with totally different teams relating to the matter.
“Now, the place is the opposition on S377A? Are they critiquing the Authorities’s method? Do they assist or oppose what the Authorities is doing? Are they providing various proposals? Not one of the above.
The opposition is lacking in motion. They’ve mentioned nothing to date. They’ve declined all remark. They refuse even to say whether or not they have a celebration place, or if they may raise the whip on MPs when Parliament votes on the amendments, which goes to be finished on the finish of this month,” he added.
The announcement that Part 377A is to be repealed was one of many highlights of PM Lee’s Nationwide Day Rally speech in August.
At the moment, the nation’s foremost opposition celebration, The Staff’ Occasion, issued an announcement in response to the Prime Minister’s speech, saying that it recognises “the elemental proper of individuals to stay free from worry and discrimination and to be handled equally underneath the legislation.”
Nevertheless, the assertion additionally mentioned that whereas Part 377A and different points surrounding the definition of marriage are necessary, Singaporeans are additionally going through different points, equivalent to inflation, the excessive price of residing, and the rise in Items and Providers Taxes (GST).
In a Reddit thread, nonetheless, some netizens mentioned they agreed with PM Lee.
“Politicking he could also be however he’s not fallacious that the WP has been comparatively quiet on their celebration place on 377A,” one wrote.
One other, nonetheless, wrote, “Who’s PM Lee kidding, he’s not going to persuade anybody the PAP is the courageous liberal celebration.”
Nevertheless, some members of the WP seem to have taken a stand supporting the LGBTQ neighborhood in Singapore, equivalent to Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim, who attended the Pink Dot rally final June, albeit in a private capability.
WP Youth Wing President Nicole Seah, who has been concerned with on-ground actions in East Coast GRC for the previous few years, additionally attended Pink Dot in 2011, whereas she was nonetheless a member of the Nationwide Solidarity Occasion.
Pink Dot, the biggest annual gathering of the LGBTQ neighborhood in Singapore since 2009, has been calling for the repeal of Part 377A for years now.
Different opposition events have brazenly expressed assist for the repeal of 377A, together with the Singapore Democratic Occasion (SDP) which made an announcement to that impact as early as 2007.
Dr Chee Quickly Juan, the celebration’s present secretary-general, attended the 2011 Pink Dot rally along with his household.
Newer opposition events have additionally spoken up.
In 2020, Progress Singapore Occasion (PSP) mentioned that it helps repeal of 377A in precept, and this yr, Ms Jess Chua, who heads Progress Singapore Occasion’s youth wing, attended the gathering.
Purple Dot United lately reaffirmed its stand on the repeal of 377A.
The celebration mentioned on its official Fb final weekend that “Identical to the broader neighborhood, members of Purple Dot United have differing views on the difficulty and we are able to perceive that a few of these views are knowledgeable by cultural and spiritual opinions.”
The repeal will probably be debated by members of parliament on the finish of the month earlier than taking a vote on the matter.
/TISG
‘1 attended quietly. 1 attended ensuring the whole nation is aware of about it,’ Netizens evaluate appearances of Jamus Lim & Henry Kwek at Pink Dot
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