377A REPEAL
Mr Wong also addressed the repeal of Section 377A on the horizon, and whether there were any viable next steps on the issue of inclusivity for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Singapore.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced in his National Day Rally last month that the Government would repeal the colonial-era law criminalising sex between men.
But this is “not a done deal” because it has to be discussed in Parliament first, Mr Wong stressed as he noted the “very strong” views on both sides.
“Let’s not even get to what is the next step before we have not even taken the first step,” he said.
“We are repealing 377A because we think that there are considerable legal risks of it being struck down if challenged, and if it’s so, it’s not just 377A, but even the definition of marriage could be struck down on the grounds that it’s unconstitutional.”
There are large segments in Singapore who “care deeply” about marriage as defined currently – between a man and a woman – as well as family norms such as how children are brought up and what is taught in schools, Mr Wong added.
The Government’s proposal is to repeal 377A but also take steps to amend the Constitution to protect the current definition of marriage from being challenged legally.
This, said Mr Wong, will assure those concerned that the repeal “is the start of change” – that there will in fact be no change to marriage, family and social norms.
“Before anticipating, thinking about what future steps we might do, let’s get past this first hurdle and see how we can get to a stage where we find a new balance that the broad majority of Singaporeans will accept, and we can get through this debate without further dividing or polarising our society,” said Mr Wong.
It’s a real concern for us, that if we can’t even get through this first step without keeping our society together – don’t even talk about next steps.”