Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has questioned the city-state's ban on sex between men.

"If in fact it is true, and I have asked doctors this, that you are genetically born a homosexual -- because that's the nature of the genetic random transmission of genes -- you can't help it. So why should we criminalise it?" Mr Lee was quoted as saying in the pro-government Straits Times.

Under Singapore law, a man who is found to have committed an act of "gross indecency" with another man can be jailed for up to two years, though prosecutions are rare.

But Mr Lee, whom correspondents say is the most powerful minister in the cabinet of his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, says Singapore should not actively pursue homosexuals who engage in sex.

Singapore needs gays, not just because of the pink dollar and the economic value they bring, but also because they add a colourful and intellectual vibrancy to our city.