The National Library Saga
he National Library Board
(NLB) had withdrawn three children’s book titles – And Tango Makes Three, The
White Swan Express and Who’s In My Family?: All About Our Families – as they
did not promote pro-family values.
The National Library
Board’s (NLB) decision to remove and pulp the three children’s books deemed to
offend Singapore’s “pro-family” norms has reignited the age-old contest between
Church and State, and more specifically in Singapore’s context, the role of private
morality in public policy and how the state should adjudicate between competing
conceptions of morality in society.
One response:
I read with disappointment the decision of several members of the
literary community here to boycott any activity linked to the National Library
Board (NLB) in protest against its decision to remove and dispose of three
controversial children’s book titles (“S’pore writers not happy over NLB
controversy”, online, July 11).
Are the writers simply disagreeing with the NLB’s disposal process
for books taken out of circulation, or do they feel that unsupervised children
should be exposed to controversial topics and left to develop their own
conclusions on such matters?
Netizens have pushed back, after the National Library Board
(NLB) pulled two children's titles off the shelves on Monday, following email
complaints that they were not “pro-family”.
At least two petitions calling on the NLB to reinstate the
titles have been making their rounds online.
One of the titles is about two male penguins who become a couple
and raise an egg together, while the other features a female couple trying to
adopt a child.
The content of the books has raised the ire of some.
One Facebook user who lodged a complaint about them urged others
in a post to not let similar children's books in the library "go under the
radar".
But NLB's decision to remove the books has led some to question
the kind of message being sent out.
Assoc Prof Paulin Straughan, sociologist at National University
of Singapore, said: "I think we have to be very cautious how we address
this issue because the important message we have to uphold always is regardless
of your sexual orientation, you are an important member of our community. And
you don't want to demonise or cast a deviant label on somebody who has an
alternative sexual orientation.
“Of course from a parent's perspective, it's a very difficult
stance to take. When we are socialising our children, we would want them to
stay within the norms and values the family prescribes to… So that's where we
have to be mindful, that primarily, that is the responsibility of the
family."
