Biting Off More Than He Can Chew

Since Vivian Balakrishnan was too lazy/cowardly/sneaky to identify the "suppressed" YouTube video he adopted as a personal WMD (Weapons of Mass Distraction - from inflation, housing, foreigner issues etc), mainstream media has outed the above clip. In it Dr Vincent Wijeysingha is heard quoting Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That must have been the awkward moment for the Minister. Maybe it was that very reference of people power that made the Minister squirm, and soil his designer white pants.

This is one insecure sorry excuse for a politician who went through great lengths to explain how he was given a girl's name:

"My father chose the name.  He was a law student at that time and he was attending a lecture by a visiting Indian judge whose name was Vivian Bose. And if you look strictly in the literature, V-i-v-i-a-n is a boy's name. There is the cricketer Vivian Richards, there was the explorer Vivian Fuchs, and obviously there was this this person who gave a lecture who so impressed my dad that he name me after him. But in more modern times, people usually associate that name with a girl's name. "

Not anyone can play the kind of ad hominem attack that is the trademark of Lee Kuan Yew gutter politics. To do that, one needs a certain degree of gravitas, the type that wusses can't manage too well. Through innuendo and snide remarks, Balakrishnan recently sniped at Wijeysingha ("Eventually, they will have to come out of the closet" - Straits Times, 20 Apr 2011) and Ang Yong Guan (" 'Strange bedfellows’ in SDP team" - Sunday Times, 24 April 2011). Ang himself declared today, "I'm a Christian, but my personal view is that I will respect a person's sexual orientation."

The label “fundamentalist” (even just the term “Christian”) in mainstream Singapore society unfortunately still carries negatively charged connotations of being anti-gay, never mind if Lee Kuan Yew himself has publicly broadcasted his own personal view that some people are genetically destined to be homosexual.  In what could have been construed as a rebuke on Section 377A of the Penal Code (that criminalises sexual relations between men, but not women) Lee actually told a April 2007 weekend meeting with the youth wing of the PAP, "Let's not go around like this moral police ... barging into people's rooms. That's not our business."

Just because Balakrishnan has openly challenged the Oracle doesn't necessary mean he has the cajones to prove his genetic make-up. For all we know, his father was not too convinced about the presence of the Y-chromosome at time of his birth, and decided to err on the side of caution. He has fallen flat on his face before, raging rabidly about how bar-top dancing can kill, only to see it approved by government shortly after.

It is a no-brainer to infer from past actions of the PAP, Christians and gays have been treated as polarised groups, and marginalised as such.  However, Balakrishnan is as good as shooting himself in both feet, if he decides to play the religion card and the homophobic card at one go. Bottomline, is he man enough to declare he doesn't need any of their votes?