Janadas Devan

Last updated

Janadas Devan
Born1954 (age 69–70)
Colony of Singapore
Occupation(s)Chief of Government Communications (Ministry of Communications and Information)
Director of the Institute of Policy Studies [1]
Parent(s) Devan Nair (father)
Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi (mother)

Janadas Devan (born 1954) is a former journalist and the current Chief of Government Communications at the Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore, coordinating the government's public communications. He is also a director at the public policy think-tank Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). Janadas was formerly a senior editor of The Straits Times , the flagship English-language daily newspaper of Singapore Press Holdings. [2] He is the son of C.V. Devan Nair, the third President of Singapore. [3] Janadas studied at the National University of Singapore and Cornell University in New York. He is married to literary scholar Geraldine Heng. [4] [5]

Contents

Career

Before becoming a journalist, Janadas taught in universities in both Singapore and the United States. Subsequently, Janadas began working for The Straits Times and Radio Singapore International. His work at RSI was mainly focused on international politics, with a special emphasis on US politics. His weekly show was called Call from America, ranging from topics such as Barack Obama's presidential campaign to the War in Iraq. [6] Janadas also wrote a column for The Straits Times. At one point, his contract with The Straits Times was terminated without any official explanation. He has stated that, "For reasons that remain unexplained, but which were clearly not journalistic, the column was halted." [7] However, as of 2008, he is a regular contributor to the Straits Times.

"377A debate and the rewriting of pluralism"

On 27 October 2007, Janadas wrote an article in The Straits Times entitled "377A debate and the rewriting of pluralism". [8] In the article, Janadas rebutted the parliamentary speech of Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament Thio Li-ann. NMP Thio had argued that Singapore, being a conservative society, cannot tolerate homosexuals, also stating that a secular society needs to listen to the religious authorities. She had also said that the minorities in a plural society must listen to the views of the majority. Janadas wrote:

Consider how she tore to shreds so many of our cherished beliefs. The idiots that we are, we had believed "pluralism" meant, among other things, "autonomy and retention of identity for individual bodies", a "society in which the members of minority groups maintain their independent cultural traditions", "a system that recognises more than one ultimate principle or kind of being", as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it. [9]

and

Oh, I cried when I read that. Imagine that: The moral conservative majority makes better vulgar jokes than the immoral liberal minority – and in Parliament too. If the immoral minority cannot beat the moral majority even in this department, we are really and truly kaput. [9]

Impact

Following his article, dozens of blogs proceeded with a point-by-point rebuttal of NMP Thio's address. Ms Yvonne Lee Ching Ling, an assistant professor of law at NUS, wrote a letter [10] to the Straits Times Forum as a reply to Janadas's article. Janadas has maintained that "Critical analyses surface with difficulty in Singapore, but the fact is they frequently do surface." [11]

"Can mum, mum and kids make a family?"

On 7 July 2007, Janadas Devan wrote an article in The Straits Times entitled "Can mum, mum and kids make a family?" [12] where he advocated the formation of same-sex marriages in Singapore. He cited a personal anecdote of a female friend in the United States who had married another woman, with two healthy children and living an otherwise normal life. He wrote:

What will those who hold that homosexuality is against the laws of God say when it is definitively established that homosexuality has a genetic basis? That God deliberately made a mistake with the DNA of gays — and wishes us to persecute them for his mistake? [13]

Impact

The article gained wide exposure in the Singaporean blogosphere and was widely reproduced online. It also generated a lot of responses to The Straits Times both for and against same-sex marriages. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devan Nair</span> President of Singapore from 1981 to 1985

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair, also known as C. V. Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, was a Singaporean politician and union leader who served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ history in Singapore</span>

There is a long history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activity in Singapore. Male homosexuality was outlawed under British rule, despite being acknowledged among the local population. Following Japanese occupation during World War II and the country gaining independence, homosexuality and transvestism were visible as a street scene, and from the 1970s were catered for in some nightclubs. In that decade also, Singapore became a centre of gender-reassignment surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nominated Member of Parliament</span> Appointed nonpartisan MPs in Singapore

A Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) is a member of the Parliament of Singapore who is appointed by the president. They are not affiliated to any political party and do not represent any constituency. There are currently nine NMPs in the Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-constituency Member of Parliament</span> MP without constituency in Singapore

A Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) is a member of an opposition political party in Singapore who, according to the Constitution and Parliamentary Elections Act, is declared to have been elected a Member of Parliament (MP) without constituency representation, despite having lost in a general election, by virtue of having been one of the best-performing losers. When less than 12 opposition MPs have been elected, the number of NCMPs is the difference to total 12. NCMPs enjoy all of the privileges of ordinary members of Parliament, apart from the salary, which is substantially lower.

Section 377A was a Singaporean law that criminalised sex between consenting adult males. It was introduced under British colonial rule in 1938 when it was added to the Penal Code by the colonial government. It remained a part of the Singapore body of law after the Penal Code review of 2007 which removed most of the other provisions in Section 377. It was subsequently repealed in its entirety in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Singapore</span>

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Singapore have evolved over the decades. Same-sex sexual activity is legal for both males and females; for men it was officially legalised in 2022 after being de facto decriminalised since 2007, and for women it was always legal. Prior to 2022, same-sex sexual activity between males was de jure illegal under the British colonial-era Section 377A of the Penal Code. The law had been de facto unenforced for decades. In February 2022, the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court reaffirmed that 377A cannot be used to prosecute men for having sex with other men, and that it is "unenforceable in its entirety". Transgender rights in the country are also progressive in the region, which included Singapore being the first country in Asia to legalise sex reassignment surgery in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvin Cheng</span> Singaporean politician

Calvin Cheng Ern Lee is a Singaporean businessman and former Nominated Member of Parliament. Cheng is known for his views on socio-political issues in Singapore. He began his business career in the modeling industry and expanded into event hosting, publishing, and educational technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidential Elections Committee</span> Council by the Government of Singapore

The Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) is a six-member council set up by the Government of Singapore to ensure that each candidate running for the office of President of Singapore fulfils the stringent qualifications set out in Article 19 of the Constitution of Singapore.

The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore is the supreme law of Singapore. A written constitution, the text which took effect on 9 August 1965 is derived from the Constitution of the State of Singapore 1963, provisions of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia made applicable to Singapore by the Republic of Singapore Independence Act 1965, and the Republic of Singapore Independence Act itself. The text of the Constitution is one of the legally binding sources of constitutional law in Singapore, the others being judicial interpretations of the Constitution, and certain other statutes. Non-binding sources are influences on constitutional law such as soft law, constitutional conventions, and public international law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chan Heng Chee</span> Singaporean academic and diplomat

Chan Heng Chee is a Singaporean academic and diplomat who has been serving as Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2012, Chairwoman of the National Arts Council and Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. She had also served as Singapore Ambassador to the United States between 1996 and 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OB marker</span> Marker to denote what topics are permissible for public discussion

An OB marker, short for "out of bounds marker", is used in Singapore to denote what topics are permissible for public discussion. Discussion topics that go beyond the OB marker, are considered to be either societal, cultural or political taboos. The entire phrase "out of bounds marker", however, is rarely used within the political landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thio Li-ann</span> Singaporean law professor

Thio Li-ann is a Singaporean law professor at the National University of Singapore. She was educated at the University of Oxford, Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge. In January 2007, she was appointed a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) in Singapore's 11th Parliament.

Viswaroopan ("Viswa") Sadasivan was a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) in the Parliament of Singapore from 2009 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Representative democracy in Singapore</span> Democratic system used in Singapore national elections

Singapore has a multi-party parliamentary system of representative democracy in which the President of Singapore is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Singapore is the head of government. Executive power is vested in the President and the Cabinet. Cabinet has the general direction and control of the government and is collectively responsible to the Parliament. There are three separate branches of government: the legislature, executive and judiciary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Separation of powers in Singapore</span>

The Separation of powers in Singapore is governed by Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, which splits the power to govern the country between three branches of government – the parliament, which makes laws; the executive, which executes them; and the judiciary, which enforces them. Each branch, while wielding legitimate power and being protected from external influences, is subject to a system of checks and balances by the other branches to prevent abuse of power. This Westminster constitutional model was inherited from the British during Singapore's colonial years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">By-elections in Singapore</span>

By-elections in Singapore are elections held to fill seats in the Parliament of Singapore that fall vacant in between general elections, known as casual vacancies. In the past, the Government of Singapore took the position that the Prime Minister had discretion whether or not a by-election should be called to fill a casual vacancy in a Single Member Constituency, and could leave a parliamentary seat unfilled until the next general election. However, in the case of Vellama d/o Marie Muthu v. Attorney-General (2013), which arose from a vacancy in Hougang Single Member Constituency, the Court of Appeal held that the Constitution of Singapore obliges the Prime Minister to call a by-election unless a general election is going to be held in the near future. However, a by-election need only be called within a reasonable time, and the Prime Minister has the discretion to determine when it should be held.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kok Heng Leun</span>

Kok Heng Leun is a former Singapore Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) who represented the arts sector in Singapore. He was appointed by the President of Singapore in March 2016. He steps down as Co-Artistic Director of Singaporean theatre company Drama Box in 2022, and continue his practice in the company as an Artist, Founder. He is a member of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Programme Committee, and is part of the arts advisory panel of the National Arts Council, Singapore.

<i>Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India</i> Indian LGBT Rights Case Law

Navtej Singh Johar &Ors. v. Union of India thr. Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (2018) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India that decriminalised all consensual sex among adults, including homosexual sex.

Geraldine Heng is Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Chair in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, where, as of November 2022, she was also affiliated with Middle Eastern studies, Women’s studies, Jewish Studies, and the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Social Justice. Heng's work focuses on literary, social and cultural encounters between societies in the period 500–1500 CE. She is noted as a key figure in the development of postcolonial approaches to the European Middle Ages, premodern critical race studies, and critical early global studies.

Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi was a Singaporean former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Moulmein SMC from 1963 to 1968 and the 3rd First Lady of Singapore as the Spouse of the president of Singapore, Devan Nair, President from 1981 to 1985.

References

  1. ↑ Institute of Policy Studies. "Janadas Devan". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ↑ "Appointment to the Government Information Service". Ministry of Communications and Information. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  3. ↑ Janadas Devan (7 January 2006). Speech by Mr. Janadas Devan at the Memorial Service for the late C.V. Devan Nair (Speech). Singapore Conference Hall. Archived from the original on 20 September 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  4. ↑ Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2018), p. xiii.
  5. ↑ K. Kanagalatha, 'Mother was our World', The Straits Times (13 May 2018).
  6. ↑ "Call from America". Archived from the original on 8 March 2008.
  7. ↑ Janadas Devan (6 June 1996). "'The Singapore Way'". The New York Review of Books.{{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  8. ↑ Janadas Devan (27 October 2007). "377A debate and the rewriting of pluralism". The Straits Times .
  9. 1 2 The Straits Times Interactive
  10. ↑ ST Forum
  11. ↑ 'The Singapore Way' – The New York Review of Books
  12. ↑ Janadas Devan (7 July 2007). "Can mum, mum and kids make a family?". The Straits Times.
  13. ↑ imp-332 Can mum, mum and kids make a family?
  14. ↑ imp-334 Letters to the press re 'Can mum. mum and kids'
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.