May 4: Open letter by Soh Chin Ong: Be Aware – Lessons for our Secular Nation
As a kid, I remember visiting a public pool and seeing this sign: We don’t swim in your toilet so please don’t pee in our pool.
That pithy slogan from my childhood popped into my head in the last few weeks as the Aware saga developed. No matter what the intentions of Josie Lau and her team were, they cannot deny that when push comes to shove, as an exco unified by one religion and one church, they would one day come to a point where they would have to draw the line, so to speak, borrowing the infamous phrase of their church pastor Derek Hong.
As an agnostic who has increasingly become discomfited by what I perceive to be a growing religiosity in society as a whole, Saturday’s EGM gave me much hope that Singapore truly values its secular spirit, no matter what religion one subscribes to, if any.
Since Saturday, however, I have suddenly come to know, separately, to my surprise, that two friends of mine attend the Church Of Our Saviour. Before Saturday., what they believed in and where they worshiped was not a matter we discussed nor cared to discuss. But because Aware is the nation’s hot topic now, these revelations have come to light.
One of them told me she supported the Old Guard because she believed, like me, that one’s faith must not spill into the secular realm. I was very very heartened to hear her words.
They certainly made up for the conviction of my other friend who was quite clearly supportive of the COOS exco which had just been ousted.
Like Josie and her team, this friend firmly believes that homosexuality is unnatural. Like Josie and her team, she believes in the letter of the law – after all, Josie et al got voted in fair and square, via a democratic process, according to the Constitution. And remember how Dr Thio Su Mien on Saturday kept going on about abiding by the constitution and the law? If you don’t like what’s in the Constitution, she said, you have to table it for discussion and change it first. Logically and legally, she is right.
By the letter of the law, therefore, my friend continued, because Proposition 377A was not repealed, which means homosexuality is still illegal in Singapore, the nation’s law actually supports the beliefs of COOS. So why the venom when they protest the propagating of homosexuality in schools as a “neutral” act?
But, as Saturday’s proceedings showed, the Constitution can be overturned on moral authority. While Josie and her team were not legally obliged to step down, they were advised to do so by their legal counsel on the basis of “common sense”.
Whatever lessons one has gleaned from Saturday, it is quite obvious that some kind of line has been crossed. While Saturday was a joyous triumph of unity and spirit on the side of the Old Guard and its new-found supporters, it has also thrown up in stark relief the intimidating prospect of bigger barricades and battle lines in the future.
Saturday saw a clash of two civilisations and two value systems within the sphere of a women’s organisation. As such, the government, rightly, did not intervene. But what happens when the issue in future becomes a national one, and not one limited to a small NGO?
As an agnostic, I have long yearned for a space for my beliefs to be heard. But it is a fine line between offering constructive criticism and being accused of not respecting religious beliefs. Our inter-faith dialogues exclude input from agnostics and atheists, as if we do not have a valid value system.
I believe it is precisely because of this absence of hard talk with regard to religious beliefs that things came to a head on Saturday.
It is time to square our nation’s laws with our nation’s credo of being a secular state. Homosexuality is a personal matter, not one that should be mandated as right or wrong by the state. It is a sin only in the Judeo-Christian framework, not in Buddhism or Hinduism. If Singapore is a truly secular state, its laws should encompass all beliefs and the space for each individual to make his own choice based on his personal values and belief system.
Because of Saturday, Singaporeans, thank goodness, have realised that moral authority does not necessarily come from a big book of wisdom – whether they contain words of state or words of God – but is earned through trust, hard work and a sense of fairness for all, regardless of race, language or religion, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.
I support our Prime Minister’s call for us to be a truly inclusive nation.
Therefore, for the sake of this inclusive, secular nation, let us not be caught unaware again.
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