The incident at Tuesday's Thaipusam festival/procession is now the talk of the town. Briefly, a fracas broke out between some devotees and police officers over the use of musical instruments at the procession in Serangoon Road.
The use of such instruments and the playing of music is banned in Singapore for religious events which include foot processions.
Law Minister K Shanmugam gave a lengthy and much appreciated explanation, although we may still disagree with him on the ban. (See his explanation here: "Hindus given special privileges: Shanmugam".
Whether the ban is justified or not should be debated civilly, and indeed this was what Mr Shanmugam said.
"[Is] there a case for allowing musical instruments to be played during the Thaipusam foot procession, in support of the kavadi carriers?" he asked.
"This is a matter that can be debated. There were incidents in the past which led to the tightening up. Whether the rules should be relaxed, and whether and under what conditions music should be allowed during the Thaipusam processions, is something HEB has to discuss with the agencies. HEB has relaxed the rules last year within the temple premises."
I think that is reasonable. All parties involved should come together and discuss this.
What we do not need is for Members of Parliament to jump to conclusions and add fuel to the fire which is already burning.
And in this regard, one has to question the Facebook posting of the MP for Sengkang West, Lam Pin Min.
On 4 February, Wednesday, Dr Lam posted the following on his Facebook page: