Hri Kumar: Children's books with homosexual content should be reclassified, not destroyed

Hri Kumar Nair, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Senior Counsel. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
Hri Kumar Nair, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Senior Counsel. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Member of Parliament Hri Kumar Nair became the first member of the ruling party to speak out against the National Library Board's (NLB) decision to pulp three children's books for their homosexual content.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday night, Mr Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) said he did not think that "destroying books is akin to censorship, and that all censorship is bad", but said that "the real question is whether homosexuality falls in that category which should be excluded".

"I do not believe homosexuality falls in the category of issues which should be excluded," he wrote. "In fact, neither does the NLB. It says it carries such books in the Adult section....Excluding such books, or worse, destroying them, sends an altogether different and confusing message about the role of the NLB."

He proposed a solution of placing the books in a separate section, "which children can only access with an adult present - much like a 'PG' movie".

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