There were threatening, expletive-laced emails. One parliamentarian had his
sexuality questioned. Another academic was flamed in blogs and had her phone
number circulated.
And the employer of one gay professional was questioned about their hiring him.
The ugly turn of events, some may say, is only to be expected given the
emotional nature of the subject matter - one that Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong had warned on Tuesday could polarise society.
But a bigger question being asked is: What do such instances say of
Singaporeans' ability to debate issues maturely, and without hostility?
In Parliament on Monday, Nominated MP Thio Li-ann recounted how a colleague
received threatening emails following the publication of an article in The
Straits Times in May, after reforms to the Penal Code were mooted.
Assistant Professor Yvonne Lee had commented that it was wrong to decriminalise
homosexual acts. For a month after, people, including young lawyers and
students, wrote to the dean criticising her.
Her photo was posted on blogs and her phone number circulated. She received
emails - "80 per cent of them abusive" - asking if she was a "fundamentalist"
who would discriminate against homosexual students.
"It was a professional attack, intimidation and harassment," Asst Prof Lee told
Today.
Professor Thio herself was "shell-shocked" and made a police report after
receiving an abusive email in August from an unnamed stranger who threatened to
defile her grave on the day Section 377A was repealed.
"If it was just a rude letter, I'd let it slip. But this really overstepped
things," the law lecturer told Today.
In the opposing camp, fellow NMP Siew Kum Hong, who presented a public petition
to scrap the law against gay sex, had his sexuality questioned.
"When you are a public figure taking a position on a public issue, you have to
accept that some people will not be mature enough to refrain from such things,"
said Mr Siew, a lawyer.
"It bothers me but I just got past it and carried on. I don't want to dignify
their comments."
The organisers of the Repeal377A.com campaign - who, in a statement yesterday,
said they were "deeply disappointed" by the decision to keep the law - told
Today that hate messages were posted on their website. "That's what the gay
community experiences as part of their lives - derogatory slurs," a spokesman
said.
Indeed, one employee at a large government-linked company learnt, a few months
ago, that an anonymous letter had been sent to senior management, asking why
they employed a gay person.
"I was really shocked. I'm not a closet gay but I don't show off my sexuality
at work. I'm there to work, not advocate gay rights; I'm a professional.
Honestly, I felt very violated," he said.
To him, the incident suggests there is "a lot of fear" that legalising
consensual gay sex would cause societal disintegration. "When there is fear, it
can lead to viciousness."
MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Baey Yam Keng, however, said that while some were not
pleased at his speaking up for homosexuals, no one had been outright abusive so
far.
One email sender vowed not to vote for him in the next election. Another asked
if he was "naive or blind".
Said Mr Baey: "For these kind of emotional issues, there will be skewed
positions taken. But it's healthy to have these two opposing views - albeit
some being extreme about it - rather than not talk about the issue."
He feels such debates raise awareness among the uninformed, which feeds into an
even more robust discussion.
But Prof Thio asked: "Can we promise ourselves that we will not resort to
deception or shouting at each other, but focus on facts and issue? Even if we
disagreed, can we disagree in a civil fashion?"
On Sunday, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and
Information, Communications and the Arts), had called for tolerance of
differences on Section 377A. The challenge, he had warned, was in preventing
diversity from descending into "divisive antagonism", as it has in the United
States.
Such polarisation was unlikely to happen in Singapore, said Dr Terence Chong, a
fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Citizens by and large have shown that they are capable of civil and passionate
debate - both in and outside of parliament - despite the actions of a few
anonymous "black sheep" in cyberspace, he noted.
"The overall tone of the debate has been civil. It would be naïve for anyone to
want passionate debate without any name-calling at all. And it would be very
unfair to point to a small group of people who send hate mail and say we are
not capable of a mature debate," said Dr Chong.
TODAY
