anyone caught unAWARE by the recent flimshams?

I must admit, i am a very lazy person. See, i cannot even remember to blog about my first day at work. Okay, admittedly there was nothing to blog about. BUT!! AWARE! The recent issues surrounding AWARE's power tussle really got me itching to write.

A Little History:

quoted from www.we-are-aware.sg
On March 28, AWARE was taken over by a group of newcomers who had only recently joined the organisation. 102 people turned up for AWARE's annual general meeting (AGM), which had been relatively less well-attended in the past. 80 of these attendants had only recently joined AWARE between January and March 2009.

When the election of office bearers began, almost every position was challenged by a member of this group. 9 out of 12 of the executive committee memberships went to newcomers, who were voted in by wide majorities.

Claire Nazar nominated by out-going President, Constance Singam, was the only one voted in unopposed. She resigned the Presidency 11 days into office. Josie Lau was subsequently appointed by the new Exco to take her place.

There are wide-ranging suspicions that this "leadership grab" has been orchestrated by women seeking to use the name and the resources of a well-respected institution to further their own agenda.

These concerns have been expressed not only by onlookers, but by older members of Aware.

• The new group at the AGM felt that it was not relevant to make known their “religion and views on homosexuality”.



• Except for Jenica Chua (and old AWARE members, Caris Lim and Chew I-Jin) other members of the new Exco joined AWARE only in the last five months; none of them has served in AWARE committees nor participated in AWARE initiatives as volunteers.



• The new Exco has terminated all the current heads of the AWARE sub-committees, including Braema Mathi, Chairperson of AWARE's CEDAW Committee (CEDAW stands for Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women adopted by the UN).



• The new Exco has kept ex-President, Constance Singam out of Exco meetings, which is unconstitutional.
• Constance Singam and Claire Nazar have resigned from the new Exco on the grounds that their advice and direction have been totally disregarded by members of the new Exco.



• The new president, Josie Lau and 5 other Exco members belong to the same church, Church of Our Saviour. Given this, it is very likely, in our view, that they have acted in concert to take over AWARE. We do not know why as they have refused to disclose their reasons to either members of AWARE or to the press and this makes us even more worried. They, or persons whom they have been associated with, have written homophobic letters to the press. While that is their personal conviction to which they are entitled, we do not want AWARE to be made into a vehicle for any hidden agenda.



• Josie Lau, was in charge of the DBS Charity Drive in support of Focus On The Family, US-based Christian organisation that is opposed to abortion and equal rights for sexual minorities. This created a controversy last year which was well-documented.



• 160 members, including former AWARE committee members and founder members, petitioned for an extraordinary general meeting to consider a vote of no confidence in the New Exco on the basis that the New Exco has not acted and is not acting in the best interest of AWARE; does not appreciate or share the values of AWARE and does not have the requisite experience of carrying out AWARE's work or is otherwise inadequate to further AWARE's objectives. An EGM will be held on 2 May 2009.

What Happened Since:

April 23 - Mother Superior Thio emerged from the shadows. This effectively runs counter to their claims that no one instigated them since the new guard acknowledges her as their "feminist mentor". If they needed a mentor in feminism, what are they doing on the exco of AWARE - a feminist movement?! Also, Mother Superior claims "... She(sic) go round Singapore teaching, counselling. So when all these problems about Comprehensive Sex Education came forth, then she(sic) started thinking: Hey, parents, you better know what’s happening, you better know what’s happening… She(sic) talked to parents, (she) said, you better do something about this, otherwise your daughter will come back and say, “Mum, I want to marry my girlfriend” or your son will say, “Dad, I want to marry my boyfriend.”

April 25 - "The Straits Times : Too Diversified or Too Focused; which is it?" article appears, throwing further doubts on the exco's agenda, which, hitherto appears to be nothing more than a confused mambo jumbo.

Oh and they fired the centre manager, accusing her of logging the president out of the system. Funny. SHE said the case was logged but the silly president did not know how to access her email. Oooo.

April 27 - It has been reported that the church in question - Church Of Our Saviour, supports their congregation joining AWARE to sway more votes towards what a Pastor termed "...a necessity to ensure that the nation does not cross the line drawn by God". Yet official spokesman for the church claims the church does not have a policy of engaging in secular affairs. Right. So what does the email by your pastors mean? An altar call?!

MOE also rebutted Mother Superior, challenging her to substantiate her claims that schools allow talks promoting homosexual lifestyle to take place.

All in all, it was quite a show. Now, comrades, stand up for freedom and say an emphatic NO to any religion who tries to play the role of moral vigilantes and force their religion on us!