Remove Thio Li Ann from Parliament

On 27 May, it was reported that Nominated Member of Parliament Thio Li Ann had made a speech against what she called militant secularism in the previous parliament session. Today online reported that Thio said, Secular fundamentalists are oppressive where they seek to mute religiously informed convictions in public debate.

We protest Thios use of words such as 'militanism' and 'fundamentalism' in perverse senses. We protest her suggestion that atheism poses a military threat, and represents fundamentalist doctrinal thought. We protest the 'scare quotes' designed to associate atheists with Islamic militant fundamentalism. We protest her wilfully mistaken characterisation of secularism as having a deep concern for muting religious views when the central assumption of secular thought is that reason can provide the best guide for conduct.

In addition, we protest the fact that Thios views resonate with those of her mother Thio Su Mien, who was involved with the recent takeover of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) by a group of members from Church of Our Saviour, Margaret Drive (COOS). We protest the militant way in which the group was taken over, and the attempt to impose a fundamentalist twist to long held values of AWARE. We protest the threat that COOS, Thio Su Mien, and Thio Li Ann posed to our secular way of life. For a moment, it was unclear whether AWARE would continue to provide all information to rape victims about their options, including abortion. It was unclear whether AWARE would provide help to lesbians, or inform them that they had sinned. Such doctrinal distortion of secular values should be abhorred.

For all these reason, we seek the removal of Thio Li Ann from parliament.