Well, this is depressing.

http://www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/article.php?articleid=1654&viewarticle=1&searchtype=all

Well, the PAP's new candidates, for all thier post-1965 coolness, are really mostly a buncha dorks when it comes to homophobia, aren't they?

And I quote:

>Dr Lim Wee Kiak waved his medical credentials. "I'm a doctor and I do not think that >homosexuality is natural. If my son told me one day he is gay, I will honestly be upset. But I >won't condemn it. We need to study the deeper underlying issues involved."

I.e. it's a disease that we have to treat, using hypnotherapy, oestrogen and electrodes.

>Ms Ellen Lee's reply was, "I have a handful of gay friends. I do not think there is a special need >for me to represent them because many of them are already very articulate and can do it >themselves. But if they want to help me in my election campaign, I would not have objections. >Their private lives will not be an issue."

I.e. help me out boys, but once I'm in power I am gonna kick you to the curb. I hope they only give her the worst fashion tips from now on.

>Mr Seah Kian Peng revealed that he was a man of calculation, not conviction. "I do have >friends who are gay. But I will not go out of my way to lobby for them because there are >consequences to cover. I will focus on the bulk of the population first in order to best allocate >resources."

I.e. I'm open-minded! But I'm also a pragmatist! I have no airy-fairy ideals about how protecting the minority from the majority!

(In response to: is Singapore ready for a gay MP?)

>Dr Fatimah Lateef said, "It is up to the people to elect one. That way, we will know if >Singaporeans are ready."

Have I mentioned I think this woman is hot? She's an emergency rescue doctor, a mountain-climber, and single at the age of 40. She also has the cutest butch hairdo. Of course, that means she might be too busy fighting off critics of her ability to represent the Malay population to be able to say what she really thinks.

>Mr Alvin Yeo stuck the pose of a new age man: "The PAP looks for substance but is also >sensitive to the feelings of the people."

Er, yeah. Which hole are you blowing that air out of?

>Mr Liang Eng Hwa roared, "Definitely not. We still hold Asian values. I don't think >representing the younger generation is just about addressing the gay issue. Personally, I don't >think homosexuality is a right value."

...Asian values. And I thought the vermin had finally croaked. Interesting how he associatess queer rights with youth interests: in a way, they are linked, since young people's insistence on the right to decide their own lives is basically metonymised by the right to choose one's sexual preference. As far as I know, that independence was celebrated in Chinese literature (e.g. through rebel hero-figures like Sun Wukong, Ji Gong, Zhu Yingtai) who owed allegiance primarily to themselves, but it was only in Western philosophy in which this was codified as a right.

More on this another time.