Lets voice our differences not go to war about it

This is with reference to this article on yahoo. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/growing-debate-online-over-repeal-of-section-377a--095505691.html
Basically, some priests in Singapore speak out against what they seem as a rising tide of homosexuality.
Firstly, I am not bothered at all that our former Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, was in the audience when one of the pastors was speaking. He was there listening and should not shoulder any blame for what the Pastor said.
In my personal opinion, I really do not have any malice or preference to gays being in Singapore. If you want to be gay, be gay. Your life, your wish. I also do not think that gay people are detrimental to the Singaporean society having had served National Service with them. Just because you have gay friends; that does not mean that you would be gay too.
People can also follow religion where they say that its not okay to be gay if they want to. It is their right and wish to do so. The rest of Singapore, who may think otherwise, should respect this fact too. That being said, these kinds of matters should be of a personal matter and not one to be pressured or impressed upon society.
I am a practising Sikh. I do not cut my hair. I am a vegetarian and I follow a religion that say that it is not okay to eat meat or cut our hair. In the same manner that I do not go around trying to force Singapore not to eat meat or to close down barber shops, Churches too should respect individual right to be gay if they want to.
This brings me this major point upon Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong comment where he referred to this as a war. This is where I think the Pastor crossed the line. Pastor Yang, we should never be in a proverbial or actual war with another. We are Singaporeans, regardless of whatever one thinks or believe in.
We are Singaporean regardless of race, language, RELIGION, thought and so on. We are Singaporeans, Christians, Muslim, Buddhist, Free thinkers, Hindus or Sikhs. We are Singaporeans, Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian or others. We are Singaporeans straight or gay. We are Singaporeans whether we support the PAP, or the Workers Party, or any candidate that we feel is best. We are Singaporeans, Pastor Yang; first and foremost.
Just as we have different races, religions and political affiliation, we have differences in the way we think. To change one's thought process, one should talk and persuade, not go on a warpath. We are an intelligent society. Let us decide if it is okay to be gay or not okay to be gay. You tell us your point of view and then let us decide.
Do not even talk about war against how we think. That sets a very dangerous precedent. If it is okay that we go to war with people who are gay, are PAP supporters going to then start a war with the Worker's Party supporters next? What if we go to war because we are if a different race?
To cap things off, I have absolutely no idea if there are homosexual activist who are going around waging war against the church or anything like that. If they are, then they should be ashamed. If they are just going against 377A, then I think it is okay.

My wish for Singapore politics

A very intersting article was posted on Yahoo Singapore today discussing author's wish for PAP. Here is the link to the second part of the article.

That got me thinking as to what I want from Singapore in terms of politics.  Here are 4 things I came up with.

1) A seperation from the law-making and the running the estate elements of Government. I would wish that the people making the laws and the people running our estates be different. In my opinion, there is a different skill involved in running an estate locally as compared to making laws for a country to run nationally. I also do not intend it to be a upper house, lower house kind of governance like other countries, but 2 bodies with different duties. One deals with local issues with regards to the estate, and the other deals with how this country is run.

2) Lets elect our and empower our Mayors. Many Singaporeans do not even know that we have 5 Mayors in Singapore and less of us even know what in the world do they do. I propose that Mayors be empowered, like in many other countries, to run the CDCs. Let them face all the problems on the ground like upgrading and cleaning carparks and so on. Let people choose who they want for these roles.

3) Empower our President. I believe that we should empower our President for there to be more check and balances of power. I think that the President, who is paid a lot, should be the person who actively chooses which elected MP belongs to which ministry and that which Ministry should be there in the first place. This would expand the role of the President who currently appoints the Prime Minister.


4) Greater representative democracy. Another condition that needs to be added in is that if a party wins x percentage of seats, then that party should, have to the best of abilities, have x% of seats in the cabinet. That would improve Singapore's Standing as a representative democracy. So if party X wins 5% of the vote and there are 21 cabinet positions, then at least 1 seat needs to go to party X. This would make situations more fair and gives public a chance to see what the opposition parties are made of.