GE2025: WP bailed at crucial point, says Indranee on the party's voting approach on repeal of Section 377A

Straits Times

01-05-2025

Minister in the Prime Minister Indranee Rajah speaking at the Punggol GRC rally held at Yusof Ishak Secondary School on May 1. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
GE2025: WP bailed at crucial point, says Indranee on the party's voting approach on repeal of Section 377A
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SINGAPORE – WP bailed when it came to the crunch on a delicate and potentially very contentious matter, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah on May 1.
She was referring to the WP's approach to voting in Parliament on the repeal of Section 377A and the constitutional amendment accompanying it that protected the current definition of marriage.
Section 377A is a colonial-era law that criminalised sex between men.
If the PAP had allowed its MPs to vote as they wished like the WP did on the repeal of Section 377A, the law might not have been struck down or the current definition of marriage would have been at risk, she pointed out.
She was lending her support to the PAP's team facing off against the WP in Punggol on the last day of the hustings.
Addressing comments from the WP that there was one occasion they had helped to make up numbers when they voted in favour of a constitutional amendment, Ms Indranee said that particular amendment was a straightforward one with no controversy.
'But there's another amendment that they didn't tell you about,' she said, pointing out how the WP had voted on the repeal of Section 377A and the constitutional amendment accompanying it.
Parliament had in 2022 passed laws to decriminalise gay sex and protect the definition of marriage against legal challenge.
The PAP government had moved to have the law struck down, while introducing a new article to protect the current definition that could still be amended by future governments, noted Ms Indranee.
When it came to voting on the changes in Parliament, the PAP did not lift the party whip, which meant that its MPs voted as a bloc.
As a result, the changes went through, said Ms Indranee.
'The Workers' Party, on the other hand, made a big deal of the fact that they were lifting their whip and they voted. Their voting was all over the place,' she said. The WP MPs had a mix of representatives supporting, opposing, and abstaining across the two votes.
Party chief Pritam Singh had said then that he had lifted the party whip to allow them to vote according to their conscience, so that they could represent the many Singaporeans who see the matter as one of deep religious belief and conscience.
He had also spoken on the PAP's choice not to lift the whip. 'Given the varied public opinion on the impending repeal of S377A, there is a risk that the democratic value of Parliament could be diluted if the views of Singaporeans on this subject are not adequately ventilated in this House,' he said then.
At the rally, Ms Indranee said: 'Under the WP approach, it was 'anybody can vote as they like'. There was no leadership, there was no party position. It was a political calculation to be all things to all people.'
'They certainly had many alternative voices, but no party position, and they had the luxury of voting this way only because the PAP had not lifted the whip and we carried the motions.'
If the PAP had taken a similar approach and lifted the whip, and the repeal and amendments had not been carried, it could have led to polarisation and clashes between different groups, said Ms Indranee.
'The PAP's approach kept things in balance. It achieved a new equilibrium, and it took into account the views from both sides. It provided leadership, but most of all, it took courage,' she said, adding that it would have been 'so easy' to go the WP route.
'Leadership requires courage, not expedience. And the PAP is a government that governs on principle, not expedience.'
She also addressed the WP's campaign message on more alternative voices in Parliament being needed, presenting it as an either-or situation.
Ms Indranee said that having opposition voices is already guaranteed under the Non-Constituency MP scheme. Under the scheme, introduced in 1984, seats are reserved for losing opposition candidates with the highest vote shares.
WP chief Pritam Singh had said on April 29 that only elected opposition MPs can pressure and push the Government, and that NCMPs have no voters and residents to solicit feedback from.
'If that is the case, I wonder what NCMPs Mr Leong Mun Wai and Ms Hazel Poa have been doing in Parliament these five years,' said Ms Indranee, referring to the Progress Singapore Party's two NCMPs.
'I am sure it must be disheartening for PSP to learn that all their efforts over these past five years do not qualify as pressuring and pushing the government,' she said.
She also questioned why the WP had accepted such positions previously, if the party believed this to be so of NCMPs. In the past, WP chairwoman Sylvia Lim had been an NCMP after the 2006 election, while Aljunied incumbent Gerald Giam had also been an NCMP after 2011.
She asked voters to examine the 'smooth statements' made by the WP.
'I'm not saying to you how you should vote, but I'm saying look at what they say very carefully, because they don't always hold up to scrutiny.'
At the rally, the PAP's candidates for Punggol GRC also spoke.
Minister of State for Social and Family Development and Home Affairs Sun Xueling, the incumbent in Punggol West, will be the Punggol town council chairman if elected.
She emphasised her experience in addressing the needs of the residents over the last five years, such as speaking up on infant milk formula prices, pre-school capacity and costs, as well as lift issues.
'I hear you. I see you, I listen to you when you share your feedback with me. I do not just raise questions in Parliament. As a political-office-holder, it is my responsibility to present solutions, and this is what I do with the civil service and with stakeholders. So you are safe with us,' she said.
Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and Health Janil Puthucheary said the team had had a 'hard fought campaign' that has been peaceful, productive and polite.
He did not directly address the issue of 'negative politics' that had become the focus of some back-and-forth in the last few days of the campaign period.
He spent most of his rally speech speaking of the plans for Punggol town, including transport services and other amenities.
'This is what we are doing, identifying the needs of our residents, finding the solutions, bringing our partners together, and lobbying government,' he said.
Goh Yan Han is political correspondent at The Straits Times. She writes Unpacked, a weekly newsletter on Singapore politics and policy.
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