Since a few days ago, civil society groups civilly arm-twisted the head of the Catholic Church in Singapore over his flip flop decision to back Function 8 and then his later decision not to. Archbishop Nicholas Chia said that he reflected on his initial decision and retracted it for the sake of social harmony in Singapore as his intentions might be misinterpreted. But Function 8 kept saying he must publish the letters.
In between the lines in this saga, the govt persuaded or arm-twisted the Archbishop. However, he is the Archbishop and he could have faced off the govt if he wanted to as he has the moral authority and a huge constituency to back him. The govt would not be stupid to arm-twist him. The Catholic community is not just the size of one small Pasir Panjang church. It is the largest Christian community in Singapore, especially if you count all the Pinoys as maids, service staff, nurses and IT engineers here. If push comes to shove, the Catholics locals and Pinoys combined can really push hard and fast just after one fiery Sunday sermon, and I’m not talking about the prosperity gospel Kong Hee kind of fiery. The big reason why bigger religions should stay out of politics.
Besides, if Archbishop Chia insisted on putting his foot down and wave his staff, it would split PAP solidarity apart. Catholic PAP members and MPs or if there are any now since George Yeo left, ministers, might instinctively side with the spiritual leader of their flock. He cannot be arm-twisted. Persuaded with reason was more likely.
Archbishop Chia in the end decided to go with the govt after that lunch or tea chitchat, mindful that Function 8 was steering the Catholic church into a langgar with the govt. This similar langgar failed to materialise in 1987 because the Archbishop then was also wary of the implications of the church taking a stand on political leanings of a group. Anyway, at least half of Function 8 were members of that 1987 group. Deja vu!
Was the Archbishop weak? No, he was responsible in a way separating religion from politics as much as he could. You want to see the church lobby the govt on abortion? However, to the disappointed groups like Function 8 and Maruah, yes he was weak lah! They thought they had the Archbishop in the pocket but now he did a u-turn at their expense. That’s why Alex Au wanted to sabo the Archbishop by leaking the confidential letters to make the head of the Catholic church look bad. Anyway, Alex is against religions and its leaders who block his 377A repeal dream and saw this as a chance to poke that Archbishop and the govt at the same time mah.
Function 8 and Maruah are now behaving like spoilt brats. At the end of the day, it is the Archbishop’s decision lah. Function 8 and Maruah had their chance to win him over. The Archbishop then made his choice. Function 8, Maruah and Alex should have respected his decision and be gentlemanly, not bitch about it.
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Function 8 Teo Soh Lung and Vincent Cheng are not only from the 1987 alumni, they are also SDP members recently. Multi-layered this story of political twists and turns.
Finally someone who wrote a contrarian view. There is more to meets the eye than F8 surely. This is politics. MHA and F8 bunch are all trying to play each other out and the church is caught in the middle.