No need to junk family values to get creative

This was published in today’s Straits Times with no edits:

Forum Editor
The Straits Times

Dear Sir,

I refer to the letter, “Get S’pore creative? Action speaks louder than words” (ST, Nov 24).

Mr John Rachmat argued that “fostering creativity can succeed only when (the Media Development Authority) does not reach for its censorship scissors the moment it sees anything remotely offensive to the sexual mores of the supposedly conservative Singaporean society”.

He further wrote that “Singapore has to decide whether it wishes to join the 21st century, or whether it wishes to cling to ‘traditional values’.”

I disagree with Mr Rachmat’s conflation of creativity and sexual liberalism.

Critics of Singapore’s moral censorship policy seem to find it rather fashionable to argue that it inhibits creativity. Nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, removing the weeds in the garden could help the truly beautiful flowers to grow and bloom.

Furthermore, I don’t see why Singapore cannot enter the 21st century while still upholding the traditional family values which have served our society so well.

Yours sincerely,
Gerald Giam