“I am born like this and like that, therefore I have the right to behave in such and such manner.”
We are all born with the carnal self, so what do we do with that? Yes, we have the right, and that right is to direct that carnal self to goodness.
We all are born as God’s servant, therefore we have the responsibility to make sure that the rights that we think we posses are not wrongs to Him. All of us are tested with different feelings and inclinations, it is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity for us to prove our Love for Him. We should be free to Love Him by unshackling ourselves from the control of our carnal selves.
If we take care of our responsibilities (Waajibaat), rights will be fulfilled. If we focus only on rights (Huquq), is there guarentee that responsibilities will be fulfilled? Rights are demands while responsibilities are services. A community of service (Khidmah) is what we want. Service to God, One’ self, Fellow Human Beings & The rest of the Creations.
The Republic’s highest Islamic authority has called on mosques “not to adopt a confrontational approach or vilify those who are involved in LGBT lifestyles or in events such as Pink Dot”, referring to the annual event that will be held next Saturday at the Speakers’ Corner in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
In an internal advisory issued to the mosques, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) said it was against the promotion of the LBGT lifestyle, but that “support and help” must be given to those who have been leading the lifestyle or have inclinations towards it.
It said: “We do not agree (or) approve (of) the pervasiveness of the LGBT lifestyle and we cannot agree to the efforts in promoting such a lifestyle. Nevertheless, we have to plan for something which will not only strengthen the resilience of our community to the LGBT lifestyle, but also help those who have been leading this lifestyle abstain from it and, at the same time, help those who have inclinations towards this lifestyle overcome those inclinations by providing support to them.”
Programmes conducted in the mosques must also not be seen as a movement to oppose these people, said the advisory which was dated yesterday and signed off by the council’s director of religious development, Mr Mohd Murat Aris. The advisory was circulated on social media by Facebook users and MUIS verified its contents when contacted by TODAY.
It also highlighted key points from a pre-Ramadan discussion held by the Office of the Mufti on June 12 for mosque religious officers, social development officers and youth development officers. The session was intended for Mufti Mohamed Fatris Bakaram to provide guidelines on the issue of “building (the Muslim community’s) resilience towards the LGBT lifestyle”.
For example, the mosques should stress in their Ramadan programmes the pro-family message and the importance of educating family members, so they would not be involved in LGBT-related activities. Nevertheless, the issue should not be the sole focus throughout Ramadan, the Mufti said.
On the non-confrontational approach, MUIS said: “This is first and foremost to avoid them distancing themselves from the religion and the mosque. Secondly, this is to avoid being involved in unnecessary arguments with them, which will impede our long-term efforts (on the issue). At the same time, we also do not want them to get unwanted publicity.”
The advisory also asked the mosques “not to be seen as being involved in the crossfire” between the Pink Dot and the Wear White campaign, which was started online by Mr Noor Deros, a 28-year-old Islamic religious teacher.
Mr Noor is calling on Muslims to wear white next Saturday to protest against homosexuality and defend traditional family values. Ramadan begins next Sunday and the first evening prayer to mark the fasting month will be held on the previous day.
Yesterday, Mr Noor reiterated his call for Muslims to wear white to the evening prayer. In a press statement put up on the movement’s website, he said it hopes to continue promoting “family-focused” campaigns throughout the year. He reiterated that the “informal grassroots” movement has “no membership or institutionalised committee”.
The Wear White Facebook page has attracted almost 3,000 likes so far. However, it has also attracted criticism from some social media users for being divisive, especially during Ramadan.
Earlier this week, findings from a survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies showed that Muslims and Protestant Christians feel most strongly about moral issues such as homosexual sex, sex before marriage, adoption of children by gay couples and gambling.
Yesterday, Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) senior pastor Lawrence Khong declared his support for the Wear White campaign. He said the FCBC and LoveSingapore network of churches will also encourage their members to wear white next weekend as a show of support. “I’m so happy Singapore’s Muslim community is making a vocal and visual stand for morality and family,” he said.
Last month, the Ministry of Social and Family Development rejected an application by an affiliate of TOUCH Community Services — which was founded by Mr Khong — to hold a pro-family event at the Padang. Participants had been asked to wear red to the event, which was to be held on June 28, the same day as Pink Dot.
Last year same month, Youtube Fanfest granted us a wonderful opportunity to have a meet and greet with our fans and followers. I just graduated. I remember turning up in my graduation gown. Most that turned up were teens between the age of 12 to 17. At the meet and greet, we opened the floor just for a casual chat with the kiddos. What came out of it was surprising. Instead, the kids chose to confide in us, their darkest moments.
A 12 year old boy told me he was a victim of sexual assault in school by a group of boys because he was effeminate.
A 14 year old hijabi girl asked me how can she overcome self-mutiliation. When I asked her why she do it. She said because she does not know how to come to terms with her feelings for girls.
Cameras from the event were rolling. I told them to shut it down. Heart heavy, I didn’t tell them what was right or wrong. We all had our own perception of what values and morals are. But I knew we all know what is human. My answer to them all stemmed from ‘support’. I said to them I won’t be the person today without Munah and she would not be the person she is today without me. I told them, they needed to find ‘their person’. I realise then my channel was more than just two weirdos attempting comedy, it was two comical persons representing weirdos… No, ‘Different people’. Unconventional people. I left that event packing up my bags to leave Singapore for a good 5 months for America.
This year I came back and their voices and faces still etched in my memory. This year I came back and I said, if I told them they needed their person… I’ll gladly use my voice to be their person.
Growing up we had no social media to turn to, to find representation for how different we are. I’m glad that in my lifetime I am able to reach out for every different persons. Gay, Straight, Fat, Weird, Special, Loud.
And to my fellow peers in the industry, if you are afraid to show your support… You must remember these kids are more afraid than you. And for all the support they have showed in our work. Voicing up is the least of our fears and is fearless at the same time too. We all have different ideas of what is right and wrong, but we should all have the same idea of what is human.
What I choose to do this year, is not my glory. It’s for these kids. It’s not to sensationalise that a brown person is standing up for a course as controversial as this. It’s not my moment. Fear is what some voices want me to feel at this point. And fear is the last thing I will show. Because these kids, need my fearlessness. And since I am Beyonce level bad ass… I want you kids to know. I am here for you. For I am your Minah.
Smart people are not afraid of intellectual discussions. They won’t shut you down too quickly.
Yours Sincerely,
Hirzi Zulkiflie.
Sometimes Syasya. Sometimes Corporal Hassan. Sometimes Ang Mo Kio Aunty.
Aku terkilan nampak posting dari NTU Kaleidoscope semalam. Makin baca makan hati aku membuak. Bingit siak.
Diorang repost satu article dari Today yang telah ditulis bersama oleh beberapa orang yang associated dengan Inter-University LGBT Network.
Aku ada satu soalan…kenapa cara hidup komuniti LGBT ni harus digembar-gembur dan diterima mayarakat? Nampak macam diorang ditomah lah selalu, macam hidup mereka tu susah merana. Orang-orang Nepal yang merana takda rumah, keluarga hapus keranan gempa bumi pun takda teruk asyik complain macam diorang. Macam kena victimised sangat ke apa sial…
Kelakar siak dapat tau yang ada banyak support groups untuk komuniti LGBT in our univeristies. As a graduate of one of the uni, aku malu siak nampak ni macam punya support for komuniti LGBT ni.
NUS je dah ada tiga kumpulan yang provide support. Tak rasa ada banyak group untuk budak-budak Melayu yang datang dari keluarga susah. Sedangkan korang tengok…NUS Muslim society agaknya ada satu, society Bahasa Melayu pun ada satu. Apa mereka lebih important daripada kita ke? Apa diorang punya problem lebih teruk dari problem masyarakat kita yang bertahun-tahun, tukar Minister ni Minister tu pun tak boleh solve jugak the problems.
Yang ada aku menyampah dia punya anggek macam dia bagus sangat. Tapi yang ada aku respect diorang as individuals. Yang ada mampus dia punya pandai dan konfiden.
Tapi as a Muslim aku tak boleh bawak diri aku nak accept mereka. Bukan aku je fikir macam ni. Ramai lagi orang dari agama lain pun macam tu juga. Ini agama kita tak accept kenapa ni uni-uni pandai-pandai nak force it down our throats? Kita boleh tolog diorang tapi kalau diorang yang tengok kita macam sial, sala siapa siak? Diorang yang suspicious of us. Kenapa?
Memang bukan tempat kita untuk judge diorang, memang terpulang pada mereka…aku pun tak kisah sebab aku pun ni bukan macam malaikat pun. Tapi kenapa sibuk-sibuk sangat pasal hal diorang? Kau tanya diri kau, apa diorang buat untuk be normal. Diorang yang ostracise diri mereka. adakau nampak orang cakap depan muka diorang…eh bapuk pergi berambus…ada?
Orang Melayu diorang suruh integrate. Apasal nak jadikan LGBT komuniti ni separate and distinct? Kena give diorang special treatment? Aapa counsellors kat NTU, SMU atau NUS tak cukup ke atau tak boleh handle?
Aku hope ni universities ni semua do something about this. Nanti tahun depan apa? 10 LGBT support groups in the unis?
(Trigger warning for homophobia, transphobia and suicide mentions.)
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With that out of the way (phew),
“I find it totally confounding that Pink Dot is allowed to promote its agenda,” Mr Khong said in a statement issued yesterday. “I find it even more disconcerting that the event is being used as a platform of public persuasion to push its alternative lifestyle.”
— Lawrence Khong, pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church, in response to Singaporean LGBTQ+ event “Pink Dot” announcing in 2014 that it intended to change Singapore’s attitude towards LGBTQ+ people.
Look, I only kind of know who Bertha Henson is. I know she used to write for the nationally-owned paper, the Straits Times. I know she transitioned later on into running the now-defunct Breakfast Network, a site which commented on local political affairs. I know she’s rather famous and respected in the local literary and political scene, but she dropped off the radar after that, or at least my radar.
That is, until today, when I came across this article on Facebook.
What did Bertha have to say? With an at most milquetoast condemnation of Lawrence Khong’s views, she turned almost immediately on the justifiably indignant members of the queer community who raised the outcry about IKEA’s promotion, calling them “as intolerant of other people’s views as they say other people are of theirs”.
Excuse me?
First, some facts.
Fig. 1, preference between rejecting vs accepting “gay lifestyles” in Singapore. Data taken from REACH’s “Our Singapore Conversation Survey”, page 9.
Leaving aside for the moment the points Fikri makes in her essay on why this data doesn’t mean the majority of Singaporeans are homophobic and the criticism of the term “gay lifestyles” itself, 47% of Singaporeans “reject gay lifestyles”, whatever that means. 47% isn’t a majority, but 47%+27% is. 27% of Singaporeans are neutral on the “gay lifestyle”, but that doesn’t mean fuck-all. Being neutral on a human rights issue is as good as being against it; it means you contribute to the silent majority brought out by those against, in this case, acceptance of queer (represented here by gay) people. So yeah, fuck neutrality, a full 74% of Singaporeans are, by the looks of this survey, against queer rights in one way or another.
Where does IKEA’s support of Lawrence Khong, and our subsequent reaction to it, fit in? I’m not sure how many of the respondents REACH interviewed were actually queer, but assuming the same fraction who support “gay lifestyles” are queer, that puts us in the minority. The minority that’s been legislated against by laws like Section 377A, condemned, and demonised by homophobes with large platforms like Lawrence Khong and his ilk.
The word “platform” is key here. Lawrence Khong, as an individual homophobe, might be pretty vile (as seen here, he firmly believes in a homosexual agenda and likens gay sex to incest and drug-taking). He might have a family, and they might be homophobic. That’s vile too. What makes the difference, then, is “platform”; Lawrence Khong boasts a 10,000 strong church and chairs LoveSingapore, an alliance of 100-odd churches that seeks to “TURN [Singapore] God-ward”.
“Platform”, then, comes from all public activities of Lawrence Khong, be they religious (sermons and other officially church-related events) or secular (magic shows). Wherever Lawrence is in public, he builds his personal brand as a dedicated Christian pastor and cool stage magician; through this, then, he not only profits, materially or otherwise, but he gains the means and the audience for his messages.
And those messages are distinctly harmful; from local LGBTQ counselling organisation Oogachaga’s March 2012 survey, 60.2% of the respondents to that survey reported experiencing homophobic or transphobic abuse and discrimination, leading to an overall higher rate of suicidal thoughts and attempts. What does it mean, then, to assist the people responsible for such abuse in growing their platform?
Sounds a lot like bullying to me; and yet, the way Bertha describes it, you’d think we were the bullies here. According to Bertha, for the understandably offended to ask fellow queer people and their straight and/or cis allies to “vote with their money”, as it were, and register protest against any attempt to help Lawrence Khong or the like increase the reach of their potentially lethal abuse, is now “intolerant” and “bullying tactics”, and puts us at risk of “start[ing] a culture war”.
Bertha Henson has fallen for illusions about free speech that seem to be afflicting much of the liberal Western media today. Hers is an admittedly less virulent version of the stance GamerGate, the terrifyingly racist, sexist, transphobic and homophobic American hate group that has harassed marginalised people in the gaming and media communities, holds; namely, that all views can, should and must be heard, and that it’s censorship to claim otherwise.
Well, fuck you and your illusions, Bertha. Us queer people, even with our 21,000-strong turnout at Pink Dot 2014, can’t muster the same platforms as bigots like Lawrence Khong and his 100-church-strong LoveSingapore network. We can’t “bully” a company with EUR €29,293,000,000 (that’s 29.293 billion euros, or SGD $42,308,747,100.33) in revenue and 351 stores in 46 countries that chooses to “reward” its loyal customers with discounts to watch a homophobe’s magic show.
You know what? I don’t believe Bertha.
I don’t believe it’s censorship to demand a view, backed up by institutional prejudice, be kept from gaining traction, and I don’t believe in any value of “free speech” that allows hate speech and its endorsement to walk free.
I don’t believe it’s “bullying” to organise a boycott, a sit-in, a loud outpouring of fury over the Internet at an act that quite literally threatens to harm us, and I don’t believe it’s “pushing too hard”, as Bertha so ungenerously puts it, to stand up for our rights.
I do believe, though, that she needs to snap out of it. Bertha, wake the fuck up, and smell the coffee. We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re going to do something about this sorry situation.
Robert Bivouac is a queer Chinese man living in Singapore. He is an advocate for social justice and diversity in media, and believes in the right to be free from hate speech. He can be reached on Twitter at @boygainvillea or at [email protected].
