About your antics to illustrate some kind of ‘pushback’ against Pink Dot. About your majoritarian argument of ‘look at us we are greater in number so we get to decide what kind of society we want for everyone’. You think looking like a bunch of hissy, reactive drama queens endears you to people? And why do you have to be so lazy? You have an entire year to organise whatever to set forth your position–you can stage a ‘One man, One woman, One family, One People, One Nation, One Singapore’ festival or a ‘Straight & Lovin’ It’ carnival or an ‘OMOW, no HOMO’ acronym slogan competition or even a mass wedding (why let the Moonies have all the fun?). Who’s stopping you? But you’d rather ride on the publicity for Pink Dot and squeeze your faces into the camera. Because who cares if 99% of the stuff in movies, TV programmes, magazines, advertisements etc all uphold and celebrate those heteronormative values you hold so dear? That one single day in a year when LGBT’s could appear in broad pink daylight in a safe, affirming space? No way, they must be bleached out like a stain! But I guess you’re kiasu and mean-spirited that way.
The problem with these kinds of manufactured clashes is not that Singapore is supposedly becoming ‘more polarised’. The problem is that it leads people to subscribe to binary thinking. Pink versus white. With us or against us. But gay people aren’t anti-family. Actual one man-one woman families (some bringing their kids) are, in fact, turning up for Pink Dot. And among those wearing pink there are many who are also religious. It’s not about a pink team on one side and a white team on the other in a tug-of-war for their souls. Because people know how to integrate their multiple identities and reconcile the contradictions within themselves. It’s what makes us human.
In writing two paragraphs it might seem like I actually give a toss about your chromatic sartorial tit-for-tat but getting back to my main point, nobody cares. Really.
KOTA KINABALU — The four tourists arrested for stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu may not only be charged in the civil court but also the native court.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said this was possible as the tourists had breached native customs as well as civil law for public indecency.
“Technically, they can be hauled to both courts. Its for the courts to decide. Let’s let the law take its course,” he said when contacted by the Malay Mail Online.
Canadians siblings Ms Lindsey Petersen, 23 and Ms Danielle Peterson, 22, Dutch national Mr Dylan Snel, 23, and Briton Ms Eleanor Hawkins, 24 have been remanded for four days ending Saturday (June 6) by Ranau-based magistrate Dzul Elmy to facilitate investigations into their alleged stripping incident on Mount Kinabalu.
A lawyer who declined to be named, also agreed that the case could be heard in both civil and native courts if they deemed it necessary.
“It has been done before, and the native court does feel it is necessary in this particular case,” he said.
It was also reported by the Malay Mail Online on Tuesday that Ranau native chief Taip Rashman, in consultation with the native court council, said that the case should be tried there as it was a breach of customary law in their area.
He said that they will do their best to see that the proper “sogit” or “cooling down compensation” was imposed on the offenders to the aggrieved party.
Sabah Police Commissioner Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman had earlier said they were expecting to complete investigations pertaining to the stripping incident on Mount Kinabalu by tomorrow.
“We want to complete our investigations as soon as possible and pass the papers to the deputy public prosecutor for further action,” he said.
The four under police custody are part of the five out of the 10 suspects first identified by Sabah Parks. The fifth was arrested and released on Monday.
“The identities of the others could not be ascertained as they did not provide their complete name and passport when they registered prior to scaling the mountain,” he said, in urging Sabah Parks make it compulsory for climbers to provide their full passport details in the future.
The four tourists, who are not eligible for bail, are being investigated by Ranau district police under Section 294(a) of the Penal code for public indecency, which carries a sentence of up to three months jail or fine or both if convicted.
Police had arrested Ms Hawkins at the Tawau airport when she attempted to board a plane while the other three had surrendered themselves at the Kota Kinabalu police station.
All four are currently being held at the Kota Kinabalu police station.
A police report lodged by Sabah Parks staff alleged that 10 tourists had stripped and posed naked for photos on Mount Kinabalu’s peak on May 30 and reportedly rebuffed their local guide who tried to stop them, telling him to “go to hell”.
The act has angered natives who believe that the mountain is sacred and carries the spirit of their ancestors.
Deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has since blamed a magnitude 5.9 earthquake which has so far killed at least 18 people on the disrespectful act.
Singapore has jumped 12 places in March 2015 from a year ago to become the 19th most expensive location for expatriates globally in a list of 30 topped by South Sudan capital of Juba.
The island nation, however, maintained its 9th spot in the Asia Pacific region where Shanghai took the top spot.
The list by ECA International is part of the bi-annual Cost of Living Survey carried out in March and September using a basket of day-to-day goods and services commonly purchased by assignees in over 440 locations worldwide.
It attributed Singapore’s leap on the list to “a strong currency”, a release issued on Thursday said.
“Although, like many currencies, the Singapore dollar has weakened against the US dollar between annual surveys, it strengthened against a number of other major currencies,” said Lee Quane, Asia region director of ECA International. “Assignees having been relocated from one of these locations into Singapore are likely to require a higher cost of living allowance in order to maintain their spending power.”
The allowance is part of pay packages to ensure that an employee’s spending power is maintained when they are sent on international assignment. It is affected by differences in inflation levels as well as exchange rate movements between an employee’s home and host country.
Shanghai has become Asia Pacific’s most expensive location for expatriates for the first time. Globally, the Chinese city has moved into the top 10 to 8th position – up from last year’s 18th spot – just ahead of Beijing (9th globally) and Seoul (10th).
Tokyo ranked two spots above Singapore in the region, as the goods and services in ECA’s shopping basket were just over 2 per cent dearer in the Japanese capital than Singapore as opposed to 14 per cent a year ago. It ranked 16th globally.
Seoul, the region’s second highest location a year ago has slipped to the third spot.
Hong Kong is Asia Pacific’s 4th most expensive location for expatriates and is now more expensive than Tokyo. Globally, Hong Kong has entered the top 15 leaping up from last year’s 29th position to 12th place. Prices of items in ECA’s basket rose more than 3 per cent in Hong Kong over the year between surveys. However, it is exchange rate movements that have had the biggest impact on cost of living for expatriates in Hong Kong.
“With the US dollar, to which the HK dollar is pegged, strengthening against a number of currencies over the past year, (Hong Kong) has become more expensive for many businesses sending assignees there,” said Ms Quane.
Australian locations continue to fall down the ranking – a reflection of the weakened Australian dollar as growth there slows. Sydney is 30th most expensive location ranked in Asia Pacific and 57th globally.
The United States cities of Manhattan, New York and Honolulu stood 20th, 29th and 30th in the global ranking.
Team Singapore’s swimmers continued their gold mining of the pool on the final of day of the event competition at the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games on Thursday (Jun 11).
Singapore added four more gold medals to the haul to finish with a national record of 23. That is more than double the 11 gold they got in the Myanmar SEA Games in 2013. Vietnam were next best with 10 gold – eight of those won by dynamo Nguyen Thi Ahn Vien. The 18-year-old added yet another gold to her name by claiming victory in the 200m breaststroke, and then saluted cheekily to the cameras for the last time as she left the pool after a remarkable 12 events.
Singapore’s Quah Zheng Wen was just as busy. He won his 11th medal of the SEA Games by taking the 50m backstroke in a new record time of 25.27 seconds, ahead of reigning champion Indonesia’s I Gede Siman Sudartawa (25.34s).
Singapore swimmer Quah Zheng Wen (Photo: Jack Board)
Earlier, Indonesia won its first gold of a disappointing swimming campaign courtesy of a powerful swim from Indra Gunawan (28,27s) in the 50m breaststroke.
But this was, once again, a night that belonged to Singapore. Amanda Lim set the tone in the night’s second race by winning the women’s 50m freestyle for the fourth consecutive time in 25.59s just one hundredth of a second in front of teammate Quah Ting Wen.
Singapore’s Quah Ting Wen and Amanda Lim with their medals from the 50m freestyle. (Photo: Jack Board)
Tao Li after winning the 100m butterfly (Photo: Jack Board)
Tao Li made it 22 after winning the women’s 100m butterfly in 59.79s, prompting a ceremonial bell ringing on the pool deck by swimming legend Ang Peng Siong, one for each gold won. Tao was visibly pumped up by the victory as she slapped the water with vigour and waved enthusiastically to the full house in the stands. She won five gold in total, winning every event she entered. Quah Ting Wen was right behind her with a time of 1:00.30.
“I did it, I proved to myself that I’m still there and in the butterfly no-one can touch me in Southeast Asia,” she said. “I did what I aimed for.
“There’s been no one (SEA Games) like this before, the home crowd cheering for us, that’s a big thing for the swimmers,” she added.
And to ensure a clean sweep of the relays it was left to four men accustomed to success this SEA Games – Quah, Joseph Schooling, Clement Lim and Lionel Khoo – to wrap things up in the 4x100m medley relay.
Singapore’s Quah Zheng Wen, Joseph Schooling, Clement Lim and Lionel Khoo win the gold in the 4x100m medley relay. (Photo: Jack Board)
They did it in style, breaking a Games record in the process with a time of 3:38.25, the 29th overall, and notably giving Schooling his ninth gold medal. That is nine gold out of nine events, for Singapore’s swim king.
“I’m very happy with myself but I’m more happy for the relay. I don’t think we’d won since ’91 and that’s the perfect way to finish the meet,” the 19-year-old said. “I think we’ve just got a lot of talent. The result speaks for itself, we’re better than the previous teams and I think that’s really positive for Singapore swimming teams moving forward.”
Joseph Schooling. (Photo: Goh Chiew Tong)
“I get to let the diet go,” joked Quah when asked what celebrations he had planned.
Indonesia and Thailand’s men were right behind Singapore’s 4x100m medley relay team, clocking 3:42.10 and 3:45.67 respectively for silver and bronze.
Singapore’s national coach Sergio Lopez said before the Games that he would be happy with 12 gold from the team. The smile on his face after six days that saw his team nearly double that goal was deservedly jubilant.
Pink Dot, the annual gay celebratory event of “the freedom to love”, will take place this Saturday at Hong Lim Park for the seventh time since its inauguration in 2009.
Each year, the event is headlined by celebrities and has attracted global brands as sponsors. It has also seen an increasing number of people turning up to give it support. Last year’s event reportedly attracted 25,000 people.
“Pink is the colour of our ICs,” the group’s Facebook page says. “It is also the colour when you mix red and white – the colours of our national flag. Pink Dot stands for an open, inclusive society within our Red Dot, where sexual orientation represents a feature, not a barrier.”
An inclusive society is also the aim of the Lee Hsien Loong Government which has repeatedly urged Singaporeans to see one another as one people, and has boasted of its inclusive policies.
Mr Lee, however, raised recently some ire among those in the gay community for comments he made about same-sex marriage and the gay community.
In an interview with ASEAN journalists in Singapore earlier in June, he said Singapore society “is still conservative although it is changing gradually” and that it is “not ready” for same-sex marriage, as the Straits Times reported.
But, Mr Lee said, the gay community have the space to live their lives in Singapore.
“We do not harass them or discriminate against them,” he explained.
This seemingly more conciliatory position of the Government first came into the spotlight in 2003, when then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong caused a bit of an uproar among conservative circles when he said the government was employing openly gay people in the civil service.
Mr Goh famously said then: “In the past, if we know you’re gay, we would not employ you. But we just changed this quietly.”
Critics, however, point to the presence and retention of Singapore’s anti-gay law, section 377a of the Penal Code. The law criminalises sex between adult males.
Mr Lee said that the gay community “should not push the agenda too hard because if they push the agenda too hard, there will be a very strong pushback.”
“And this is not an issue where there is a possibility that the two sides can discuss and eventually come to a consensus. Now, these are very entrenched views and the more you discuss, the angrier people get,” he said.
Pink Dot, in response to Mr Lee’s remarks, said that while it acknowledged Mr Lee’s concerns – given Singapore’s unique position as a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious society, there will be a plurality of viewpoints, some deeply entrenched – it nonetheless feels that “it is not a topic that can be swept under the carpet and allowed to fester.”
Lee
“We firmly believe that dialogue is our best way forward,” Pink Dot said. “As such, we would like to invite Prime Minister Lee to join us in celebrating the Freedom to Love, this Saturday, June 13, at Hong Lim Park, and meet with the individuals, families, and loving couples who form a vibrant part of Singapore’s social fabric.”
Mr Lee’s office has not responded to the invitation publicly.
Pink Dot also noted that racial and religious minorities are protected under the constitution.
“Whether Singapore will eventually abolish Section 377a and create a society truly based on justice and equality, that values all contributing citizens regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity; a lot will depend on fostering goodwill and encouraging respect among groups and individuals.”
Will Mr Lee accept Pink Dot’s invitation and turn up at Hong Lim Park on Saturday, in the name of inclusiveness or fostering an inclusive society? Should he?
Well, if we go by what his government itself has said – that it wants to build an inclusive society – and what is declared in our National Pledge – that we “pledge ourselves as one united people… to build a democratic society based on justice and equality” – then there is no reason for Mr Lee to decline the invitation.
But of course if Mr Lee accepts the invite, it will be seen by the conservatives as a sign of support, or at least of tacit endorsement of the gay community.
Indeed, Pink Dot’s invitation could also be seen as putting Mr Lee on the spot, perhaps nudging him to take a stand, instead of the fence-sitting one he currently adopts when it comes to gay issues.
Whatever it is, it will an interesting Saturday indeed.
