Latest news with #Section377A
Straits Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
GE2025: WP bailed at crucial point, says Indranee on the party's voting approach on repeal of Section 377A
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 Follow our live coverage here. 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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Straits Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
GE2025: PAP's approach on difficult issues is to bring all Singaporeans together, says PM Wong
PM Lawrence Wong and the PAP's Tampines GRC candidates posing for photos with residents during a walkabout on April 30. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR GE2025: PAP's approach on difficult issues is to bring all Singaporeans together, says PM Wong Follow our live coverage here. SINGAPORE – When making policy, the PAP government's approach is to try and bring all Singaporeans together, especially on issues that may accentuate differences between people, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Speaking to reporters after a walkabout in Tampines on April 30, PM Wong said the Government took this approach when handling difficult issues such as the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code, allowing Muslim nurses to wear the tudung in their workplaces, as well as the Israel-Hamas conflict. 'We try to forge as wide a national consensus as possible on these issues, and to make sure we continue to expand our common ground and bring Singaporeans together, so as not to accentuate our differences, nor to seek to exploit those differences,' said PM Wong. 'That's the PAP way,' he added. 'That's the PAP's DNA. And that's how over the decades, we have been able to bring Singaporeans together, unite our people and forge a much stronger Singaporean identity today, and we will continue to take that approach.' Asked about WP chief Pritam Singh's criticism of the PAP's use of 'negative politics', such as by denying opposition MPs access to People's Association (PA) resources, PM Wong characterised this as an issue of policy and not negative politics. 'On policies, I take it that there will always be differences. We can discuss, we can debate robustly – even in Parliament – and there's always room to improve,' he said. 'I don't take the view that all our policies are perfect. They continue to be improved, fine-tuned, and we do keep on doing better, as our policies have been over the decades. And so are the same with our policies regarding PA,' said PM Wong. He noted that there have been robust debates in Parliament before about the PA's role. 'I'm sure there will continue to be debates on PA's role, which we have always explained is non-partisan, and it helps to strengthen social capital in Singapore,' he said. 'But the WP and the opposition parties will have a different view, and we are happy to debate and make adjustments along the way, if we think it's necessary.' At a WP rally in Bedok on April 29, Mr Singh had also said the PAP changed its policy on municipal upgrades in opposition-held constituencies after it lost votes for the ruling party. Mr Singh noted that Hougang and Potong Pasir voters were told in the past that their wards would be last in line for estate upgrades if they voted for the opposition. He said the policy change shows that the PAP 'only listens when it loses vote share and parliamentary seats to the Workers' Party'. Responding on April 30, PM Wong said policies – such as those on municipal upgrading – are not static. 'There was a logic, which we explained, about how we allocated in the past,' he said. 'That's one possible logic you can use. It's not that (municipal upgrading is) withheld. It's a question of queuing and prioritisation, because we will do it. But it was a matter of when.' He added that there was a logic previously 'that if you didn't support the PAP, then you don't get it earlier than the ones that supported the PAP'. 'That logic, I think, is no longer wearable today,' said PM Wong. He added that the policy change on the prioritisation of municipal upgrades was not just in response to the opposition protesting, because Singaporeans also expressed that there could be a better way of allocation and prioritising resources. 'That's why, as I said just now, policies will always be fine-tuned with the input of Singaporeans,' PM Wong said. 'When we hear their voices, when we engage Singaporeans, we understand, we continue to improve policies,' he said. 'And in this case, we, over time, evolved and developed a system where we prioritise based on the age of the estates and the age of the blocks.' PM Wong said that whether on municipal upgrades or other policies, the PAP is open to debate. 'We are happy to discuss, not just in Parliament, because the debates and the discussions and the inputs and the feedback we get come from multiple sources, including from Singaporeans directly,' he said. On accusations by opposition parties that the PAP government is out of touch and not responsive enough, PM Wong said he understands such criticism and accepts that there may be individuals who have encountered 'frictions' in the Singapore system. 'I always take the view that there is room to improve. There's room to do better. We are not perfect,' he said. But having more voices does not mean there will be better outcomes in Parliament, PM Wong added. ' It depends on the quality of the inputs in Parliament too,' he said, adding that the PAP does not take in inputs only from Parliament alone. 'We engage widely, we listen, and we will take in inputs from all Singaporeans,' said PM Wong, who added that this is something he has spent such time on since taking over as prime minister, such as by visiting every constituency across Singapore. He said: 'We will continue this journey with your support, to engage, listen, to hear your feedback, get your inputs, and to keep on making Singapore better for you and your families.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
AsiaOne
30-04-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
'Bringing Singaporeans together' is PAP's DNA, PM Wong rebuts Pritam Singh on 'negative politics', Singapore News
"Negative politics" isn't the People's Action Party's (PAP) DNA — uniting Singaporeans is, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said during an interview with the media after his walkabout in Tampines GreenCourt on Wednesday (April 30). PM Wong, who is also the party's secretary-general, was responding to Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh's rally speech on Tuesday, where he countered that the PAP themselves engaged in "negative politics" and that it was "the PAP's DNA". Speaking with the media, PM Wong replied, first explaining that references the WP made in relation to "negative politics" were actually referring to policies. "I'm referring to a different kind of negative politics, a negative politics where, in the case of the WP in their earlier rally, they targeted Gan Kim Yong the entire night with personal negative attacks," he elaborated, adding that these attacks were "unwarranted". Addressing WP's comments on the lack of access to resources from the People's Association (PA), PM Wong — again referring to this as "policies" — shared that he is open to robust debate even in Parliament, as there "will always be differences" and "room to improve". He highlighted that policies in place are not perfect but will be improved, as they have been over the decades. In particular, he stated that the policies related to the PA are constantly debated on and that the PA is "non-partisan". However, opposition parties may have differing views, and the PAP welcomes adjustments where necessary, he added. PM Wong further explained that the PAP government's approach is to "try and bring all Singaporeans together", especially when handling sensitive issues such as Section 377A, wearing of the tudung or the Israel-Hamas conflict. "We try to forge as wide a national consensus as possible on these issues, and to make sure we continue to expand our common ground and bring Singaporeans together so as not to accentuate our differences nor to seek to exploit these differences," he said. "That's the PAP way. That's the PAP's DNA, and that's how, over the decades, we have been able to bring Singaporeans together, unite our people and forge a much stronger Singaporean identity today." 'Policies are not static' PM Wong also replied to questions from the media on Singh's claim that the PAP had changed their policies due to the loss of votes, specifically a policy in the past where PAP-held wards received HDB upgrading plans ahead of opposition-held ones. He acknowledged that this was a "logic" that was previously held by the PAP, but added that this logic "is no longer wearable today". But this change wasn't brought about solely due to opposition protests — Singaporeans on the ground had also pointed out that there was a better way to allocate resources, PM Wong said. "Policies will always be fine tuned with the input of Singaporeans," he stated. "When we hear their voices, when we engage Singaporeans, we understand and we continue to improve policies." He added: "When it comes to policies, we are happy to debate... We listen to every voice. We believe that every voice matters, and we will continue this listening engagement to make sure that we always do better for Singaporeans." PM Wong attended the walkabout alongside PAP's Tampines GRC candidates Masagos Zulkifli, Baey Yam Keng, Dr Koh Poh Koon and new faces David Neo and Charlene Chen. Also present was Tampines Changkat SMC candidate Desmond Choo and PAP assistant organising secretary Alex Yam, who is also a candidate for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. khooyihang@
