Ready4Repeal (also spelt Ready 4 Repeal and Ready For Repeal) is an online movement and petition for the repeal of Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code.
It was started in early September 2018 by Glen Goei and Johannes Hadi because Section 377A was being excluded yet again from the Penal Code Review to be held in 2019, and the founders of the movement did not want the LGBTQ+ community to be left behind.
To date, it has garnered 50,495 signatures. The lead signatories are Professor Tommy Koh, Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Professor Walter Woon, Ho Kwon Ping, Claire Chiang, Hsieh Fu Hua, Theresa Foo and Harold Foo, Professor Tan Tai Yong and others.
Importance of the Penal Code Review[]
The Penal Code review is a long and comprehensive process which does not happen often. The last review was more than a decade ago.
For the 2019 review, some of the key tasks given to the Penal Code Review Committee were to rationalise, recalibrate, and modernise the substantive offences in the Penal Code and update or remove any outmoded offences. There was also a special focus on the protection of women, minors, and other vulnerable people. However, the Government specifically excluded Section 377A from the scope of the review. This was a glaring and problematic omission given that Section 377A is an anachronistic colonial law, and that the LGBTQ+ community is marginalised and vulnerable.
The last review of the Penal Code took place more than 10 years ago, in 2007. The last sustained national conversation about the criminalisation of homosexuality also took place then. Singapore and LGBTQ+ Singaporeans cannot afford to wait another 10 years to be liberated from this old and unjust colonial law.
Effects of Section 377A[]
Even if it is not enforced, Section 377A relegates Singaporeans' gay friends and relatives to second class citizenship by signalling that what they do, and who they are, is condemnable and wrong.
The broader implications of this law results in:
- Poor physical and mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ people;
- Harassment and discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees in the workplace, often with impunity;
- Denial of legal registration to LGBTQ+ organisations;
- Censorship of any positive portrayals of LGBTQ+ individuals and relationships in the local media;
- Absence of objective and comprehensive education in schools about gender identity and sexual orientation; and
- Restrictions on the promotion of HIV prevention and treatment programmes by public health providers amongst the LGBTQ+ community.
The continued existence of this archaic law today prevents LGBTQ+ Singaporeans from freely exercising the right to individual choice, expression and dignity.
Timing of Ready4Repeal[]
The Singapore Government was undertaking the first major review of the Penal Code in more than a decade. The public consultation exercise on the report of the Penal Code Review Committee ended on Sunday, 30 September 2018. Unfortunately, an executive decision was taken to exclude Section 377A entirely from the scope of the review.
Call to action[]
If concerned citizens share the vision of a more inclusive Singapore that treats all her citizens equally, they are urged to sign the petition and speak out. The time for change is NOW.
The first batch of signatures was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs as part of the public consultation to the Penal Code Review on Friday, 28 September 2018.
However, the petition was kept open indefinitely as the road to repeal continues.
See also[]
References[]
- The Ready4Repeal website:[1].