Darren Boon
A Facebook group, ‘We Support Siew Kum Hong’, has been set up to support Mr Siew Kum Hong’s bid for a second term as a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP).
In a strong show of support for Mr Siew, the group, which was set up only yesterday, has 430 members so far, ballooning from 90 odd members to more than 400 members in a number of hours. The number is still on the increase.
The group was set up by Mr Patrick Chng, in response to the personal attacks directed at Mr Siew on the government portal, REACH, over his involvement with AWARE’s Extra-ordinary General Meeting and his purportedly pro-gay agenda.
Amongst those who have joined the facebook group are Sintercom founder Mr Tan Chong Kee, filmmaker Mr Martyn See, and current AWARE president Ms Dana Lam.
Ms Lam posted a message in support of Mr Siew saying: “I speak for the many who have witnessed his generosity. We are shocked and extremely upset by the aspersions and baseless allegations made against Kum Hong for standing with AWARE during our most vulnerable and critical period.”
“It is most foul and unfair. It pains us to witness the progress of this smear campaign over the past weeks,” Ms Lam added. “We have no doubt he will triumph over the current adversity.”
Sintercom founder Mr Tan wrote: “Kum Hong is one of the best NMP we have seen in Singapore. He has enormous integrity and passion.”
Mr Tan condemned the “coordinated attack” on Mr Siew and the use of the “wedge issue” of homosexuality.
Another supporter, Mr Jonathan Kwok, argued that it is necessary for people to understand that a person is “multi-layered” and is defined by more than his sexuality or views on sexuality.
“Mr Siew has much to contribute to Singapore, and his views on sexuality form just a small part of his person and his portfolio,” Mr Kwok said.
Mr Abdul Salim Harun, a former Workers’ Party member and elections candidate, said Mr Siew is a good man who vocalises issues in the open when necessary and for walking the talk, and pledges his support for Mr Siew.
Ms Elaine Jung, another supporter, hopes for more NMP terms for Mr Siew, while Mr Chang Yong Kai suggested that Mr Siew ran for Member of Parliament in the general elections.
However, Mr Chia Yeow-Tong highlighted what he felt was the undemocratic NMP selection process. He pointed out that the final decision rests on the Parliamentary Selection Committee: “And they can choose either the voice of reason or to side with the conservative view. It does not matter even if the majority of Singaporeans want Mr Siew back as NMP. We are unable to make the decision.”
Meanwhile Mr Colin Lim wrote his praise for the starting of the Facebook group. “It’s time for the people who appreciate what his man has done to be more vocal in their support for him,” he said.
You can view the group here.
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Is this necessary? We can trust those responsible for selecting NMP to do the right thing. I think this write-up and the facebook will create more controversials surrounding SKH and jeopardise his chances.
Also in today’s ST forum titled AWARE has never had a “gay agenda” ,Dana Lam said ..the current AWARE exco is already moving moving on…We are confident we will be able to put this episode behind us and continue with our work..”
From the above write-up it would appear AWARE is not doing what it is saying and promise to do..and the President of AWARE ‘s comments on SKH will encourage more allegations and misconceptions in online forums. So AWARE please beware all eyes are on you.
“It is most foul and unfair. It pains us to witness the progress of this smear campaign over the past weeks,” Ms Lam added. “We have no doubt he will triumph over the current adversity.”
Did I read wrongly? Coming from Ms Lam? Having witnessed the whole AWARE saga, it’s more like a returning of favour to Mr Siew?
I am still waiting for the Law Society to clarify on Mr Siew involvement as a Legal adviser (Ms Lam, Mr Liew has denied that he was acting as one, it was you girls who treated him and telling the whole S’pore he was the legal adviser. Maybe Ms Lam can clarify? Why did Mr Siew not clairfy then?)
Now, conveniently, blamed it on the conspiracy theory. Come on, give me a break! You women are no girl guides!
I support SKH in parliament but not as an NMP. I do not support the NMP scheme. He should get into parlaiment the right way; by being elected by the people. Of course some may say, “let’s support good men in whatever capacity they are in” and that “we have too few of them to be picky”. But I think the few good men should make a moral stand to not use the back door to exercise legislative influence.
“It is most foul and unfair. It pains us to witness the progress of this smear campaign over the past weeks,” Ms Lam added.
Ha ha. What utter hypocrisy! Didn’t Dana and Co used the same tactics against Josie and Co at the EGM?
1) socrates on May 16th, 2009 2.31 pm
with this kind of public tit-for-tat, a lot of people are indirectly ‘forced’ to take position which they never really have thought of taking or even come close of taking in order to save face of ‘not losing out’.
and with this trend of noisy “fight” continuing, whose cause will be better served in the end where certain publicity which used not to be there has become more prominent taking into consideration a more and more discerning human force.
will more allegations stop them from what they are doing or in fact increase the level of what they are doing. please do not forget, for every force there is always an equal and opposite reaction (more so if there is not too much cost involved and if they play by the law).
“But I think the few good men should make a moral stand to not use the back door to exercise legislative influence.”
back door as defined by virtue of the “presence” of a ‘front door’ by the mere existence of the nmp scheme and again we are playing into the hand of the incumbent.
let those who are good doing the back-door stuff continue doing what they are doing so that people who are good with front-door stuff can continue entering the room by the front door quitely. you need to be flexible adopting what you think is best and should not be constrained by your some artificial boxes of definition of what is morally right or wrong as this may come back to haunt you. beside this front door or back door, there is this much wider space known as the no door.
Now that everyone is aware of AWARE’s old guard’s pro-gay/lebian agenda,everyone should all BEWARE!
What disgusting hypocripy by the AWARE old guard, using privileged journalistic position in the media to conduct smear campaign gainst Josie and team and using religious card to sway the public.
How cowardly Mr/s Siew now deny that he has not given legal advice, when he so proudly accepted and acknowledge he is providng legal advice at the EOGM by not refuting it at the EOGM.
AWARE OLD GUARD, please give everyone a break. Objective and ‘straight’ Singapore are not as naive as you, to cry foul when you were consitutionally and legally removed.
It pains us to see Dana lam instead of focusing on woman issues is again straying into the grey or gay area.. Is she a stooge of an international gay movement.?
Has AWARE been hijacked again? Why so desparate to get SKH into parlaiment? To provide a voice for the gays? It smells of foul stench.
#2) Ravi Philemon
‘ I support SKH in parliament but not as an NMP. I do not support the NMP scheme.’
………………………………………………………………….
I fully agree with you. I am afraid that Singaporeans are so complacent, docile and passive that this scheme will one day become a permanent feature of our political system at the expense and demise of the opposition parties. Then Singapore will become truely a one party state.
Most of the one party dominant countries have collapsed or failed or languished in poverty – all the communist countries (except China), Somalia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, etc.
No one, including LKY or the PAP can guarantee an incorruptible government and prosperous one party Singapore in future.
Hell’s bells.
Damien needs this support like he needs sun burn, horns on his head, a tail, and serpents coming out from his mouth.
Didn’t DPM imply that AWARE OG is on the side of the homosexuals saying homosexuality was “clearly a major issue to both sides” in the Aware saga
, leading this charbo to write to media saying that its stand has always “been identical to that of the Government”.
AWARE pls sit down and shut up! You make Lee Bee Wah look gd!
Please stop defending Mr Siew by alleging conspiracy against him, alleging unproven bullying him, alleging inflammotory attacks which are actual upset and truthful comments and viewpoints against him etc..
His admission that he is now not a legal advisor to the Aware team astounded people where earlier he did not dispute this reported fact that he is legal advisor to the Aware team. Why is there a flip flop and turn around? Where is his crediblitiy? How reliable is he? Can we trust his words now on? Can we sincerely have some answers without being attacked as baseless accusations or unfair attacks against him?
Solo Bear writes: “What utter hypocrisy! Didn’t Dana and Co used the same tactics against Josie and Co at the EGM?”
Well, let’s see. I do not recall Dana and Co anonymously circulating allegations of homosexuality against a married man or woman. You people just like to jump to conclusions. “Someone supports decriminalizing homosexual acts, so he must be homosexual himself.” But that’s a non-sequitur. If you had actually bothered to read SKH’s blog, you would have found that he got married earlier this year, long before he made the headlines (yes, his CV on the Parliament website with marital status is out of date). But it’s your narrow-mindedness and the pleasure you take in promoting prejudice and resentment that blinds you to the truth — that many Singaporeans are much more tolerant than the vocal minority of AWARE-bashers think.
Hi Solo Bear,
Please back up your statements with facts. How did this alleged smearing occur?
No way, out he go! We have lots of talent and people who is willing to serve.
Why NMP? Go for MP lah! Unless Siew Kampong is a born looser!
DC,
Where have you been the last month? On Mars? Everyone is talking about how Dana and Co used unethical methods and you don’t know about it?
Must I keep posting links and be accused by gays that I am self-promoting my site?
Click on my nick and visit my blog to see for yourself how many people feel Dana and Co and the guilty ones.
PAP MPs Charles Chong and Baey Yam Keng broke rank to support the Repeal of Section 377A. Will the Anti-Gay Camp target the re-election of these 2 PAP MPs at the next General Election?
Hilarious, Solo Bear.
Unless you can specifically point out to me what exactly they did. I don’t see anything resembling a ‘smear’ campaign from Dana & Co.
Dana & Co ran a honorable campaign and the only smear I can see is coming out of your blog. Your posts are full of opinionated comments and degradetory , “The Gay Times?”.
Perhaps you should follow Dana’s example and use facts to support your arguments instead of labeling people.
Your blog is like Fox News. “Fair and Balance” indeed.
These 2 MPs had to toe the line and had to speak what their benefactor spoke, like the baey guy. He was trying to score some credits and get into MM good book.He has a gay disposition. MPs like them cannot be trusted. They have motives.
DC,
I have said enough. There are quite a handful of posts and there are hundreds of comments on my blog.
I don’t expect you to read all, but to conclude after just reading a few lines?
FYI, I have not censored or moderated those comments – unlike many pro-gay blogs that censor, moderate or boot people out.
So if you think I am bias, after I have allowed total freedom of speech, what can I say?
This is what I hate about conservatives.
Always using the ‘sympathy card’ when they have nothing else to defend their views.
What sympathy card?
The persistent cries by gays that they are always discriminated when no one discriminates them?
Ya, Solo Bear, I agree with you… there are hundreds of comments in your blog who share the same views as you, think like you and do not think highly of Dana & Co… even though you do not moderate…
Ape,
You forgot to mention that there are also hundreds of comments that do not agree with me.
You see, when I say I believe in free speech, I really put it into practise.
I have been booted out by two pro-gay sites (Mr Wang and Glass Castle) and had my comments unpublished by one gay site – not going to name it as yet, because it was only one post so far.
If gays and pro-gays themselves can’t practise what they preach about democracy, who is going to listen to them?
So is he going to start a LGBT party and take on the mainstream politicians? Let’s all wear pink and support SKH. Deck our houses with those colourful flags found commonly in San Francisco. AWARE showing their true colours.
the anti camp will always view people who are neutral as pro.
the “with us, or against us” tunnel vision.
but i find the need to publicly voice support NMP Siew KH unnecessary. better Aware stay out of this, just recover the $90000+/- spent by Josie & co…
When Josie Lau was publicly chastised by DBS for breaching its internal policy by assuming the (then) AWARE Exco Presidency without approval from the DBS management almost everyone (including the AWARE Old Guard) went “tsk tsk how unbecoming how can she ever be President ?”.
Constance Singam for example said “news coming to light each day adds to my concern about the intentions and ability of the EXCO to lead AWARE. I was shocked to read the statements made by DBS in the last two days about the conduct of the new AWARE president, Josie Lau. DBS said – ’We are disappointed that Josie knowingly disregarded DBS’ staff code of conduct twice. Such an attitude is not one that DBS, or any other organisation, can condone in a leader.’ AWARE certainly should not”.
The allegations against SKH are even more serious, in the sense that if proved it would mean that he had committed an offence.
Why shouldn’t the complainant (according to the news, a corporate counsel like SKH) be as concerned or as shocked at this potential breach, as were Constance Singam and almost everyone else at Josie Lau’s breach of internal company policy ?
There is no doubt that much of what SKH has done as NMP (and I’m not talking just about gay issues) is admirable (albeit in my opinion, sometimes questionable). However, given that a potential offence is in question, what surprises me is the lenient view that people take of this potential offence.
AWARE President Dana Lam is quoted as saying that this is “most foul and unfair”.
While the alleged breach of the law appears to be a technicality to laymen, the law was obviously drafted as such for a reason. (And no, unlike section 377A, this law is not just intended to be left there as a “signal” but otherwise not enforced). There is nothing “foul and unfair” about this law. The circumstances under which the alleged offence came to be investigated is also a non-issue — if there is an offence then there is an offence, regardless of whether it is investigated / discovered now or later, or never discovered.
So, my takeaway from this is that it is “foul and unfair” to investigate SKH for an offence, but not “foul and unfair” to magnify and exaggerate the severity of Josie Lau’s breach of internal company policy.
I think we ought to examine if double standards are at work here, both in ourselves and in those around us.
(Note – The alleged offence does not appear very serious to me. Therefore I personally hope that SKH gets away with nothing more than a stern warning or some other slap on the wrist).
Siew Kum Hong has never publicly announce what he aimed to achieve for the LGBT right? Or did I have missed some info/updates?
Have he ever announce specifically what he will do/say/work on for the LGBT? What is the ultimate result he aimed to achieve for the LGBT?
I think these are important concern to determine the suitability of his presence in Parliament.
It is only when Singaporeans learn to accept everyone for who they are that we can mature as a culture. We are a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-sexual country. We must accept and understand this.
I am straight and Catholic however I do not allow my religious views to affect the friends I make and my judgement of others. We must learn to tolerate everyone regardless of their beliefs and looks.
Perhaps we need mandatory classes on the following topics in Secondary School:- Introduction to the main religions, Islam, Christianity (covering Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Anglican), Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Introduction to Homosexual, Bisexual and Transgenger Culture. Introduction to Ethnicity (Focusing on Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian cultures). Introduction to Languages.
Our education system is clearly lacking in explanation of these diverse social aspects. It pains me when I hear someone who is unaware of that Catholicsm and Eastern Orthodoxy are both forms of Christianity. Many Singaporeans are unaware of the rich history of Malay and Indonesian culture even though we are surrounded by these countries. Many of us are unaware of the historical Asian tolerance of homosexuality. How many Singaporeans are aware of the meaning of Peranakan?
Only through improved education can we overcome this intolerance.
Did the facebook group get SKH ok ? Never a good move to use facebook platform to get government’s attention.
Also when it backfires , SKH may have to say something like ” facebook says so not me ” , something similar to the effect that ” old guards of Aware say I am their legal counsel,…..not I “…….Need of a denial argument will cast doubts.
Dana Lam, etc, may feel obliged but this a NMP selection – think about it, facebook is poor strategy. But it is done and without much thought and you never know that he may have been done in by friends.
If not selected, suggest SKG go into politics – if not wanted by PAP, then join Opposition or be Independent candidate to get back to Parliament .
Best wishes.
Hi BD,
Your suggestion on introductory religious studies was evaluated in the 80s when Dr Tony Tan was the Minister of Education. There was prolonged debate in Parliament and the final answer then was a straight NO from the Minister himself. I guess every generation needs a debate on this and this debate is pertinent now as we widen the OB markers.
Solo Bear #22 Correct more or less. The gays are using the underdog downtrodden card. Nobody gets discriminated about their private sex life if they keep it quiet. But once they make it public and pride, then safety off fire on sight. That’s why people into BDSM, necrophilia etc just keep quiet about it because it is not mainstream.
Yeoh #27 Always double-standards and all is fair in love, work, and politics. His role in Aware is being questioned http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2009/05/today-article-tomorrow.html
and his alleged acceptance of funds does not help
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2370261
Jaunty Jabber #28 – SKH’s stand was on discrimination, not LGBT per se.
Counsel #30 – SKH can still benefit from Facebook strategy even by not endorsing it. All the more he shouldn’t endorse it if things go wrong.
Advice to Dana Lam:
Stay away from SKH and his nomination or you will drag him down or vice-versa.
If you wish to speak do so in your personal capacity but not as President of AWARE. Keep your promise to WKS that AWARE has never had a ‘gay ‘agenda and is moving on and forward.
It is time Siew Kum Hong come out as an independent candidate and fight in a single ward, may be take over Potong Pasir? Since so many people are supporting him.
hi everyone that is wondering if SKH has received foriegn funding, please ..he siew has clarified that he has not received i his blog so unless there is evidence that he has, please desist from making these allegations…
Again I say. Get him to replace Lee Bee Wah. Quick!
The president, AWARE should concentrate on AWARE. In an interveiw with Ms Debra Soon in Talking Point, she gave one excuse after another for the failure of AWARE and drop of membership under the leadership of AWARE old guards. If she wants to campaign for SKH, she should not do so in her personal capacity; not as an office holder of AWARE. AWARE is not SKH and SKH is not AWARE.
If SKH is keen in politics, he should, instead of ‘running’ for an NMP seat, run for office.
Ppetitioning (like begging) for another term is not a good idea. It is a negative marketing of oneself. If a person is good, that person does not need to drop hints or petition. If a person petitions, he/she would not and could know whether he/she is given another term because he/she is good or because of the petition.
If a person perceives the seat of an NMP as a continuation of one term after another, that person does not appear to know what political appointment is about.
By the way, social service professionals do not behave like what was seen of AWARE old guards and their supporters – jeering, booing. gestulating etc We or they (social service professionals) are very conscious of being role models. They are in the business of helping people. Bad behaviour is not only incompatible but is inexcusable – big No! No! They also cannot encourage bad behaviours or urge other people to behave badly like booing, jeering, gestulating etc. It is like a counsellor, who works to change the bad behaviour and thinking process of his/her clients, is seen or caught behaving and thinking in that very bad manner.
average Joe 35)
You’re right since he has clarified bloggers should refrain from
saying this nasty thing about him. He seems honest enough for this sort of thing.
On the other hand i think he reported to the police first than clarified on the blog. Yes?No?
I think he no good friend of the bloggers fraternity!
Solo Bear, please leave me out of your loopy accusations.
I moderated you on Glass Castle because I didn’t want to provide you a platform for a derailing and abusive conversation. A “no-platform” position is entirely consistent with supporting freedom of speech as a political value. I don’t oppose your having a platform somewhere for your opinions (even if I happen to think they are total moonbattery), and I would consider it deeply objectionable if your website was forcibly taken away from you.
But I don’t think a feminist website is the appropriate place for people to start arguments about the proper content of feminism after declaring (1) they think feminism is a “non-issue” and (2) they have totally no interest in the version of feminism to which the website in question is devoted. It’s like someone saying they think all of science is rubbish and then trying to have an argument about what they (having declared science is rubbish) think of the latest developments in quantum mechanics: what is the point of a scientific magazine hosting them? They should be free to spout their stuff somewhere, but they can hardly expect to be published in the Institute of Physics monthly magazine, and it’s not censorship if the magazine rejects their publication.
Jolene (www.glass-castle.org)
things happen when you offend certain religion. siew was unlucky to offend one of the most powerful church. god bless. hope you survive their machinations.
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