Vivian Balakrishnan

Vivian Balakrishnan

I refer to the report "PAP on Wijeysingha video: Candidates should be upfront about motives" (April 25). I find it ironic that it was Dr Vivian Balakrishnan who first raised the video as an election issue. This is because back in 2009, in the aftermath of the AWARE saga, Dr Balakrishnan was quoted by the media as saying: "Number one, don't let a single issue hijack the agenda.We live in a diverse society, there will always be some issue we cannot agree on - we need to be able to learn to live and let live, to agree to disagree and to do so agreeably."

Dr Balakrishnan went on to urge Singaporeans to build a "rainbow coalition" with representation from "all the different streams and segments that constitute Singapore", in order to make meaningful changes in society, according to ChannelnewsAsia.com.

In light of the apparent disconnect between Dr Balakrishnan's previous comments and his recent statements, Singaporeans deserve to know whether he now believes that gay people should not be represented in Parliament.

Personally, I think that the SDP should be lauded for having the courage to field a good candidate regardless of his sexual orientation. Dr Vincent Wijeysingha's track record of social work speaks for itself; in the recent televised debate he impressed with his passion, eloquence and intelligence. Those are the qualities that matter, not the issue that the PAP has decided to highlight.

Vivian Balakrishnan