Speaking at a weekend meeting with the youth wing of the People's Action Party, Singapore's ruling political party, Singapore's founding father was quoted as saying by the Straits Times: "If in fact it is true, and I have asked doctors this, that you are genetically born a homosexual - because that's the nature of the genetic random transmission of genes - you can't help it. So why should we criminalise it?"
Referring to homosexuality, Minister Mentor Lee - the father of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - said that it is an issue that "raises tempers all over the world, and even in America," further noting that there is a "strong inhibition" in all societies - be they Christian, Islamic, Hindu or Chinese.
"And we are now confronted "with a persisting aberration."
"But is it an aberration?" he asked.
"It's a genetic variation.
"So what do we do? I think we pragmatically adjust, carry our people...don't upset them and suddenly upset their sense of propriety and right and wrong.
"But at the same time let's not go around like this moral police...barging into people's rooms. That's not our business.
"So you have to take a practical, pragmatic approach to what I see is an inevitable force of time and circumstance."
In 1998, Lee responded to a question from an unnamed caller, who asked for the then Senior Minister's view about the future for gay people in Singapore during a call-in program on CNN International.
Lee replied: "Well, it's not a matter which I can decide or any government can decide. It's a question of what a society considers acceptable. And as you know, Singaporeans are by and large a very conservative, orthodox society, a very, I would say, completely different from, say, the United States and I don't think an aggressive gay rights movement would help. But what we are doing as a government is to leave people to live their own lives so long as they don't impinge on other people. I mean, we don't harass anybody."
Section 377A of the Penal Code currently provides for a 2-year jail term for "any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person."
The Home Affairs Ministry announced last year that although anal and oral sex in private among between consenting heterosexual adults will soon be decriminalised as part if the citystate's first major penal code amendments in 22 years, it would retain the ban on sexual acts between men. The ministry later added that it would not be 'proactive' in enforcing this law against consensual acts that take place in private.
Was MM Lee Kuan Yew asking a rhetorical question when he said, "Why should we criminalise it [homosexuality]?" Click here to read more from Alex Au as he picks MM Lee's remarks and related media reports apart.
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Reader's Comments
Again, i have to mention that Singaporeans need to wake up and smell the roses, what century is this? Even China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan are repealing their laws of gay sex. ven though they are ultra conservative societies. C'mon, if Singapore is often claimed as a first world contry, then act like one!!
time changes and people changed as time passed too.
but i have to admit this.
is never an easy task for anyone like him to talk about this at the age that most peope wil think whoever said this at this age must be having some thinking problem.
give a cheers for that
when we blamed all this people in banning this and that , maybe we should look at how are we going to improved in ourself. are we really so united ? do we actually care about each other that much ? are we really will stand up for one another when thing happened? will we lend a helping had when our 'friends' are in trouble?
i don't think so many will do that . is more like i do what i like and you can carry on with what you like . isn't that true for so many of the gay guys here in singapore? wen we point our little finger at someone or some area. there is always at least 3 of our finger that is pointing at us. think about that . when next time , before we point again . ask ourself this. have we united yet ????
everyone here talk about gay rights,
but actually how many peope stand up for that when thing happened ?
if so many of you guys out there have such strong feeling and mindset wanna make a change to all this? come on , stand up for it, don't just talk , action wil be so much better.
and please do question aout that right infront of those people and not when they talk about it and all you guys can do is just talk about it. formed a group, make it loud, let others hear you.
isn't that wil be so much better than just grumble here ???
Like many people who have heard and read his speeches, I have only kudos for him. And again, my kudos this time for his authoritative views on gays. 3 Cheers for him!
Government should never be moral police, that's right. What happened in the privacy, it's not anybody's business.
This is a good step for Singapore progress.
It's about time.
He's a politician, and a darn good one at being one.
A politician usually makes politically correct statement.
A good one can make a statement which gets both opposing sides to stand up and applaud.
Come the day of eternal rest, i plan to make a special trip to Sg soonest, stand over the stone and offer something that comes from deep within myself.
Personally I think this is all scrap. But eugenism has some history. Some 80 years ago it was very much en vogue in progressive European circles, who wanted to "improve" humankind. Then it was taken up by the fascists (Mussolini and especially Hitler) with this twist: cleanse the "bad specimens". He implemented it thorougly and there were pink triangles.
The genetic temptation is double-edged. Let's never forget it.
I wish my family can just live with the truth that I like men...
I want to love someone so that person can love me back
I want to be a happy person inside and outisde
Sometimes I question God why gay species was created. Some say its the work of the Devil but gays are known to be sensitive and have compasion but yet they are many who are just as self center as they can be but who isn,t...
This is my journey of life
I am 35..I don,t wish anymore, I don,t hope anymore but I have faith. I go as what has been plan for me in this life......
R u somewhere?...come close , don,t run..don,t go. Just be here....
Somehow the society sistem has to change. We are living in a globalisation era. There is no culture boundary as we used to have in the past. If the current thinking does not change, we will be bounded at where we are.
and you're right vincenttheon
Singapore and The US are similar police states and they both go against homosexuality. This is very dangerous grounds we're getting into, here.
If the (corrupted) international medical establishment succeds (with the help of the state) in asserting we are a "genetic variation" , they will probably pass laws to exterminate us because we are "genetically defficient".
I'm quite relieved to know that MM Lee is clear-headed about this. *applauds*
By and large, I think the current younger generations are quite okay with homosexuality.. so we just have to wait a few more decades for.. the younger generation to become the older, and homosexuality become more widely accepted. I just hope it comes to a day when gay people can openly hold hands on the streets.
There is a distinction between saying something is a genetic variation and that it is a genetic aberration (or deficiency as disundi puts it).
Recognising that something is a genetic predisposition is good for us. Why - because it puts being gay beyond the realm of morality. Morality connotes a choice between divergent paths, so if there is no element of choice, morality cannot speak. In the same way if you were born female, or black, etc. it is a genetic inevitability and persecution would be wrong.
Whereas if you say it is a genetic aberration, it is going one extra step. It is no longer value-neutral. It evinces the presumption that there are "desirable" and "undesirable" traits. Therefore being gay is inevitable but undesirable, and should be eliminated. I think there's a serious and very obvious moral boundary to cross from the former pronouncement to the latter; accepting genetic predisposition is not equable, and is in fact diametrically opposed, to endorsing eugenics.
I think we should all be fortified by the fact that conventional morality weighs heavily against genetic selectivity and "cleansing" - the legacy of World War II, no doubt.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSIN33351020070423
If S'pore Founding Father has spoken his peace/piece and thinks that while homosexuality shouldn't be criminalised and the root problem is not widely accepted in Singapore, yet the world over knows we have thriving gay scene, obviously something is not in sync. If even the Singapore's Law Society are clamoring for a review of the laws against homosexual sex, which they view as outdated and archaic, then isn't it time for us, the very subject that the country, government and people is watching, learn to be OUT & PROUD of ourselves? I believe it is ONLY then that we can be widely accepted. What & How can we get the uniquely S'poreans to accept the uniquely us? Is it really that hard? Being a S'porean myself, I really don't think so. The people here actually are a very understanding lot. I just came out being gay for slightly over a year old and being a new gay, I observed that even the rest of the community like, your mother/father/relatives, colleagues, business associates etc are aware of the growing number of gays and lesbians around them. Just look around you and bet you can spot a gay/lesbian around the corner (or at all four corners if not already). I believe there is ALREADY an undercurrent accpetance in our society about gays. Yet, I find it strange that we go around nary acknowledging & affirming ourselves, fearing & feeling almost a sense of shame on ourselves. If we don't hv guts to hold your partner's hand in public, how can the public EVER get use to it? Why keep saying things may change in 20 years? Why not in 20 weeks?Every sign is in favour for us to come out already, I think this IS the time for S'pore gay organisations to come together & do a acceptance campaign to our fellow citizens and with a rousing support and presence of the gay. Let this moment be the impedus and birth for the nation's first gay march & parade perhaps and let's seize the moment to change history!
Lately, I made a first move to reveal to one of my close str8 fren. And it was a good feeling for both parties to be honest to each other after a long friendship. It's not a matter of seeking acceptance of others, but it's a matter being open to others and claim to be what we are.
Maybe it's 50% genetics, 50% peers and environment. I have met many bisexual married men who were clueless about gays even after they have their 4th or 5th children. But they like it, resonate to it and thats the bottom line.
Even if it is all due to genetics, what gives this old man the right to talk down to us as if we're FLAWED?
What ever it is, it's a lifestyle CHOICE!
Ironic to see this old man, who was pulling all the strings in Sg for decades, or maybe half a century, put up his hands and question his successors why they did what they did.
Come judgement day, what are you gonna say when God ask you why you discriminate on his children?
If it is not genetics, then what is it? A psychological aberration? I don't think so. The medical and psychological society has already come to a firm conclusion that homosexuality is not an illness. And if genetics come into it, then it's not a question of morality nor religion.
I disagree with what DukeNukem says about it being a lifestyle choice. Is it really as simple as that? A choice? Does that mean that at any point in time, I can choose to 'turn straight' and stop lusting after men on the streets? Doesn't that prove those bible-thumping (no offence to anyone here) organisations that they are in the right? That homosexuality is simply a choice of the 'culprit' and that we can all choose to give it up - we just don't want to?
In the past, the whole world - not just MM Lee - misunderstood gays, even ourselves. Even now, many of us would rather stay in the closet. If now, we are better understood by society, and by an important member of the government, as NOT being an aberration (and I believe he is saying thus), isn't that a good thing?
Well there are many people who choose not to live a lie by getting married to a woman.
Besides, I know a high percentage of people who come from the not so urban area. They get married at a young age, breed like rabbits and one day, a more obvious homosexual enticed them into something they never even thought of before. And the rest is history. It's not one or two cases, but I would say about half....... I'm not refering to your country though. I'm talking about a bigger picture....way way way bigger. Get the hint?
Sigh, I guess LKY is somewhat right about infecting the heartlands.
But whether it's genetic or by the influence of our environment, the end product is that we are gay. We cannot choose to change, and like what gamindc02 has said, why would an individual want to deal with the hostilities by being gay?
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