LGBTQ and vaccine issues

While some divisions like race and religion have their roots in history, emerging issues like gender and sexuality have split Singaporeans. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) issues have been more prominent in the last decade. Other emerging divides include those between people who are pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Experts have cautioned against the dangers of a class divide linked to factors like race and nationality. 

Asst Prof Walid Jumblatt Abdullah from NTU’s School of Social Sciences said Singapore has to go beyond cursory or superficial statements about how inequality matters and to think deeper about what meritocracy truly means. He pointed to the rise of populism in the West and in Asia, saying: “There’s racial tension... but it’s exacerbated, and it’s intertwined with class differences. That is something we cannot ignore.”

Read the article (for ST/SPH subscribers) here.

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Photo: Tim Bieler on Unsplash