In a country that has a tumultous history where she was literally thrown out of Malaysia, Singapore has over the last 40 years devoted a large effort to building a national identity. Forging this identity is not easy considering the diverse ethnic and religious background of the people.
As such, the government has attempted to built a society that is based on a set of common values (common to all races and religion), these values (will not attempt to list them out) centered on the building of consensus as opposed to confrontation, family as a core unit of the society, family above self, country above family, etc...
If you noticed, then, that the self-element is very much discussed within a broader context of the family unit and in turn within the broader context of the society. These values that are neither based on race, religion, etc however, point to a more basic premise – that family is the core unit. Implied in this, also is that the family is a male-female-offspring family unit... (GLBTs are therefore not in the equation)... (regrettably).
Policies in most aspects of the society are therefore worked out along these set of lines. Eg, tax incentives for married couples, children-tax rebates, housing rebates incentives, etc are worked out in favour of married couples (male-female).
On the same token, you can also see policies that penalises people from marrying late, not marrying (including all the GLBTs), eg if you are not married, you are not allowed to purchase public housing until you are 35 or older and even then you are not allowed to purchase public housing in prime areas.... these are some of the details that perhaps GLBTs felt unfairly treated... not directly, but indirectly as a consequence of policies that favour marriage.
For the greater good? on one hand yes, but on the other, difficult and many a times frustrating...
facts of life...
As such, the government has attempted to built a society that is based on a set of common values (common to all races and religion), these values (will not attempt to list them out) centered on the building of consensus as opposed to confrontation, family as a core unit of the society, family above self, country above family, etc...
If you noticed, then, that the self-element is very much discussed within a broader context of the family unit and in turn within the broader context of the society. These values that are neither based on race, religion, etc however, point to a more basic premise – that family is the core unit. Implied in this, also is that the family is a male-female-offspring family unit... (GLBTs are therefore not in the equation)... (regrettably).
Policies in most aspects of the society are therefore worked out along these set of lines. Eg, tax incentives for married couples, children-tax rebates, housing rebates incentives, etc are worked out in favour of married couples (male-female).
On the same token, you can also see policies that penalises people from marrying late, not marrying (including all the GLBTs), eg if you are not married, you are not allowed to purchase public housing until you are 35 or older and even then you are not allowed to purchase public housing in prime areas.... these are some of the details that perhaps GLBTs felt unfairly treated... not directly, but indirectly as a consequence of policies that favour marriage.
For the greater good? on one hand yes, but on the other, difficult and many a times frustrating...
facts of life...
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