Gay move a right step for Lion City

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien-loong's announcement that section 377A of the penal code, which criminalizes sex between men, will be repealed may fall short of the expectation of LGBT communities but is surely pivotal to the city-state's ongoing efforts to maintain its position as Asia's international financial center.

Singapore is one of the last countries to repeal the colonial-era law inherited from British rule.

Hong Kong had a similar set of criminal codes against gay sex before the Legislative Council moved to repeal the outdated legislation in 1990.

Since the provision was removed from the law books, consensual sex between men has become lawful in Hong Kong.

Although Singapore is regarded as the SAR's major rival in the region, the continued presence of section 377A has hindered the city-state's efforts to get top financial talent to base themselves there.

Decriminalizing gay sex will better align Singapore with international communities where LGBT rights have been on the rise.

It is expected that, following the repeal, more international companies will be willing to relocate their regional offices to Singapore.

That being said, what is curious about Lee's announcement during Sunday's national meeting was the timing, with the prime minister saying it was the right thing to do "now."

That begs the question: why now, and not sooner or later?

Lee said it was because most Singaporeans "now" accepted it.

Perhaps most Singaporeans have accepted it for some time but now changes are happening regionally to give rise to new opportunities that Singapore could miss out on if it did not act quickly to seize them.

This comes as various surveys conducted by business chambers show companies are relocating their offices from Hong Kong to other destinations, with multinational financial firms showing a preference for Singapore.

Didn't the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association recently say that two thirds of the firms surveyed in July were finding it difficult to retain and attract international talent due to concerns over the SAR's Covid restrictions?

Worse still, 35 percent confirmed they had already moved some regional and global positions to offices outside the SAR.

As an old adage goes, one person's loss is another person's gain.

With Hong Kong already battered by its own Covid restrictions, its lawmakers unexpectedly condemned the 2022 Gay Games planned to be staged here in November as "filthy" and against the national security law.

It is ironic that, as Hong Kong forced the gay event to be postponed, Singapore seized the emerging opportunities even though it is considered more conservative than Hong Kong.

If not removed, section 377A would have continued to be a barrier for Singapore. Sunday's announcement was the result of a long-running debate and it is only the emerging regional situation that led to a swift response.

Meanwhile, It is also in the interest of Lee's successor, deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong, to have the potentially explosive issue defused sooner rather than later.

Lee's announcement to write marriage between a man and a woman into the constitution was a balancing act.

It cannot be clearer that Hong Kong has no room for complacency.