Section 377A of the penal code is an issue that Janadas Devan, Chief of Government Communications and the Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, cares deeply about.

For instance, he has shared three Facebook posts on the issue within a day, and included his own personal take on two posts.

In his third and most substantive Facebook post on the matter, Janadas said that the majority view has to be taken into account when the Executive and Parliament consider changing the law, especially on divisive issues such as 377A.

Janadas added that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's, and the government's view on 377A more than a decade ago (see his 2007 speech in parliament) remains "the only viable position".

In other words, the law remains on the books, but the Government does not and will not enforce it.

LKY: 2 "don'ts"

Importantly, Janadas said that this view had been held by all three Prime Ministers of Singapore, including the late Lee Kuan Yew (LKY).

LKY said that he thought that homosexuality should not be criminalised because he believed it was genetically determined.

And LKY followed that up with two "don’ts":

i) Don’t change the law because it will upset the "sense of propriety and right and wrong" of the majority

ii) Don't "go around like this moral police — barging into people’s rooms"

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Supporting Tommy

Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh shared his thoughts on 377A, after recent news of the India supreme court striking down the Section 377 law that criminalised gay sex.

Which is summed up by this Facebook comment he made later.

Koh's BFF from IPS -- Koh is the Special Adviser of IPS -- was quick to offer a show of support.

Speaking in his personal capacity, Janadas noted that 377A is a bad law and prayed that it will go "sooner rather than later".

This was repeated in Janadas' most recent post, where he hoped that 377A "will one day disappear".

He added that while he believed that it is "wrong to criminalise homosexuality", he would support the uneasy compromise that the government has forged as it is the only viable position to take.

Shanmugam provided latest government views on 377A

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A day earlier on Sept. 7, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam responded to questions on 377A, noting that PM Lee had previously set out the government’s position in Parliament.

Shanmugam added that LKY had spoken about this issue and felt that LKY was “sympathetic and expressed his understanding for those who were gay”.

He said that Singaporeans were deeply split on the issue, with the majority “opposed to any change over Section 377A”.

Shanmugam concluded that “society has got to decide which direction it wants to go and the laws will have to keep pace with the changes in society”.

Janadas' full FB post below

“What the public thinks, whether it’s a majority view or minority view, these are usually not considerations” when Courts are ruling on the constitutionality of any law.

But the majority view will have to be taken into account when the Executive and Parliament are considering changing the law, especially when it comes to divisive issues like 377A.

Till the majority changes, the “uneasy compromise” on 377A, as PM Lee described it, that we decided upon more than a decade ago, remains the only viable position: Given the majority view, the law remains on the books. But the Government does not and will not enforce 377A.

That view has been held by all 3 Prime Ministers of Singapore, including Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He said explicitly he thought homosexuality should not be criminalised because he believed it was genetically determined. But he followed that up with 2 “don’ts”:

— don’t change the law because it will upset the “sense of propriety and right and wrong” of the majority

— and in the meantime, don’t “go around like this moral police — barging into people’s rooms”

Speaking personally, I hope 377A will one day disappear — and I hope, sooner rather than later — for I believe it is wrong to criminalise homosexuality. In the meantime, I support the “uneasy compromise” we have forged, for it is the only viable position to take.

I think most people will agree with Lee Kuan Yew’s “Two Don’ts”.

What is 377A?

377A ("Outrages on decency") states that "any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years".

Top photo from Institute of Policy Studies Flickr