SINGAPORE: Law Minister K Shanmugam has said Singapore
will not decriminalise gay sex but the courts have the power to
decide how the law, Section 377, is applied. Section 377A of the
Penal Code deems sex between men a crime.
A recent ruling by the New Delhi High Court legalising gay sex
between consenting adults in India raised questions on whether
Singapore might go the same way. Both countries share the same
Penal Code, inherited from the colonial British.
In a dialogue with Punggol residents on Sunday, Mr Shanmugam said
Section 377 will remain as homosexuality is still not accepted by
most Singaporeans.
He said: "We have the law. We say it won't be enforced. Is it
totally clear? We, sometimes in these things, have to accept a bit
of messiness. And the way the society is going, we don't think it's
fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are
homosexual."
But he said that while the government will not take the lead in
repealing the law, the legal courts in Singapore have the power to
decide how Section 377 is interpreted and applied.
Mr Shanmugam, who is also the Second Minister for Home Affairs,
said the government will play a more active role in other areas,
such as creating ways for new citizens and Permanent Residents to
interact with the community.
But he said all parties must also make an effort. "It's not a quick
process. You can't wave a magic wand and say, 'oh, integration
takes place'. It takes many years. And why talk about foreigners?
Even amongst ourselves, different races, religions - how long has
it taken to get to this stage?"
During the hour-long dialogue, one resident noted that the minister
had spoken of affirmative action for Malays five years ago and
asked if he felt this was still necessary.
In reply, Mr Shanmugam said the community had come a long way, but
clarified that he was not calling for a quota system at the
time.
Instead, success must be founded on meritocracy.
Mr Shanmugam said: "We don't talk about quotas, that's not our
approach. We don't talk about...so many places for Malays, so many
places for Indians, so many places for Chinese. That's a wrong way
to go. It has got to be meritocratic. But assuming 10 people make
the cut-off, try and look for some who are also from the Malay
community."
- CNA/ir