SINGAPORE: The present legal position on Section 377A is a “very untidy compromise”, with the law criminalising sex between guys being “vulnerable” in order to legal challenges, said Minister for Lifestyle, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, who will be also Second Ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) for Law.
This means that it was “not possible” for the Government to “keep to (the) circumstances for much longer”, he told CNA on Monday (Aug 22).
Leading Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Weekend announced that Singapore will repeal Section 377A from the Penal Code , which was first launched in the 1930s by British colonial authorities.
Mr Lee, in his National Day time Rally speech, added that the Constitution may also be amended to protect the definition of marriage as that between a person and a woman from being challenged within the courts.
Within the interview with CNA, Mr Tong observed that there have been four applications to the Great Court in recent years to challenge the constitutionality of Section 377A. None of them has been successful so far.
However in the most recent challenge recording, the court, directed by Chief Proper rights Sundaresh Menon, refrained from ruling on whether Section 377A violated Article 12 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality prior to the law, and reaffirmed that the law has been “unenforceable in its entirety”.
The Government researched the judgment “very carefully” and with recommendation from Attorney-General Lucien Wong, it took the overall view that there is a “significant risk” that Section 377A could be struck down on the grounds that it breaches the Constitution’s Identical Protection provision, stated Mr Tong.
The minister mentioned that instances of Area 377A being struck down by the courts have happened far away, including Asian countries like India.
“So we felt we all can’t ignore this risk and do absolutely nothing. Because if that happens, when 377A is hit down, our relationship laws will also come under challenge on a single grounds, ” Mister Tong said.
“This could lead to same-sex marriages being recognised in Singapore which, in turn, will also have an impact on other laws and regulations and policies that are built on our existing definition of marriage. ”
As these problems are best resolved with the elected Government rather than the courts which look at issues “only from the strict legal position”, Mr Tong mentioned the Government felt it “should take responsibility and act now”.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who was at the same interview on Monday, defined court processes as “adversarial” by nature.
“Any court view will lead to a win-lose outcome for your parties involved, and such an outcome may divide and polarise our society more, ” he mentioned.
“The courts themselves have stated that the political world is the more apparent choice for such decisions to be made because through a politics process, we can accommodate and balance the different views and aspirations of Singaporeans. ”