Choo Zheng Xi / Editor-in-Chief
Josie Lau’s interview with CNA raises more questions than it answers. Several assertions in her interview seem to be inconsistent with the facts.
The sound of silence explanation
Both Ms Lau and Honorary Treasurer Ms Maureen Ong both claimed that the new Executive Committee could not speak to the media earlier, because the newly elected president, Ms Claire Nazar had quit. On national television, Ms Lau claimed that “earlier, we couldn’t speak, because there wasn’t a president, and under the Constitution, we could only speak through the president”.
This is at odds with what the AWARE Constitution explicitly says. Article 20 (b) specifically empowers the VP to deputize in the President’s absence:
Article 20
The duties of the Office-Bearers are as follows:
(a) The President shall act as chairperson at all General and Committee Meetings. She shall also represent the Society in its dealings with outside persons, and may appoint other members to represent the Society.
(b) The Vice-President shall deputise for the President in the latter’s absence. …
Besides the silence to the outside world, TOC understands from several sources that the new Executive Committee had not sent any communications to existing AWARE members as of the time of the interview. Instead members had to read the papers and watch the news to hear from the new Executive Committee.
Josie the reluctant leader?
Was Ms Lau a reluctant leader or had she intended to run for the Presidency of AWARE earlier? Ms Lau’s version of the timeline of events is also questionable.
Ms Ong claims that Ms Lau was only elected as a result of her being the last person to be asked to take up the presidency: “on the night of the 15th, she was the last “man” standing”. Ms Lau affirms that by following up “that evening, as Maureen explained, there was hardly any room to move, I was the last woman standing, and I felt I had to pick up the baton”. This gives the impression that she was a reluctant candidate for the position.
However, this contradicts DBS’s statement on how she had indicated, that afternoon before the Executive Committee, meeting that she intended to run as president.
The Kent Ridge Common asks a similar question.
Agreeable “Stormtrooper tactics”?
Josie Lau mentioned wanting to “disagree in an agreeable manner”, but her actions so far seemed strangely at variance with this claim.
The new Executive Committee replaced all subcommittees, contrary to past practice and despite the protests of past President Connie Singam, firing Ms Breama Mathi, who was in charge of the CEDAW reporting process and an established expert in that field. Also, they excluded Constance Singam, who as Immediate Past President has a seat on the exco in an advisory role under the Constitution, from the exco meeting where Josie Lau was appointed President.
They also forced newly elected President Claire Nazar out with what Ms Nazar described as “stormtrooper tactics”.
If Ms Lau is keen on building a collegial working environment, why have their actions been so destructive? A New Paper opinion piece the day after the interview read: “Few straight answers in AWARE interview”. I am inclined to agree.
—–
Excerpt from Alex Au’s blog, Yawning Bread:
Now, here’s something the public does not yet know: The television station’s original plan was for a member each of the old guard and the new guard to be in the interview. Josie Lau objected vehemently and insisted they would not share the interview room and program with anyone from the old guard. So much for reconciliation.
There’s also the extremely curt email (so much for reconciliation, again) they sent to Braema Mathi telling her she’s been relieved of her position as chair of the subcommittee preparing AWARE’s report to be submitted to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Without even a customary word of thanks, the email said:
Kindly note that your term of office as chairman of the CEDAW Committee has ceased at the date of the AGM on the 28 March 2009.
Kindly submit all the work in progess by Friday 17 April 2009 without fail.
Regards
Sally Ang
—-
I wonder why the supporters of the old exco seems to be those who uses dishonorable methods such as boycotting the bank, votes buying, they are also more verbally unkind and also the loudest, and even uses death threats? What kind of members are there in the old exco to have this kind of supporters?
To socrates and Jaunty Jabber:
It has now evolved into an undesirable situation – death threats. Scary isn’t it?
So can you see why the old exco members accept and include those gays, lesbians, delinquents, etc? (I clarify: Accepting and including do not equate advocating and promoting)
So why do you think our government has been advocating tolerance and respect for diversities all these years?
Obviously, the minority groups are not convinced by the new exco members that they are not anti- them. Never pressed people to the wall.
Dear everyone,
I discovered that someone is so angry with me yet do not know how to react, hence what he/she can do is to impersonal me by leaving comments on the cyberspace, the fake Jaunty Jabber said:
“I am a fat stupid person…..jaunty jabber”
Obviously the person who dislike me must be a supporter of the old exco.
Once again I have to ask: What kind of members they are in the old exco to attract that calibre of supporters?
The is merely for the sake of argument, nothing more.
To 124) lockeliberal,
I am not disagreeing that AWARE had done a great job for the most part of 24 years and I have even said so myself. It is the more recent undertakings that call into question the original focus by which the society was set up to do. Obviously for one like yourself who aspires to put into practice what your idol had preached during his lifetime, it’s a different kettle of fish, now that the new team has a different agenda.
Be honest now about who you support and why. Tio Su Ann in a press conference has admitted to being behind the whole idea to take over AWARE : 136) lockeliberal
She also pointed out that the old AWARE has lost it focus and that women at large must know about this and that something has to be done to correct this. She did give some good examples to support her comment like the introduction of homosexual and gay practices into the school syllabus. The old members might want to take note instead of taking offence.
This should also be welcomed by detractors for the fact that the new AWARE has now come out to state their position more clearly. It’s in line with what Josie had said at her first interview, that they are going back to address the core values of AWARE, shift back the focus to where it belonged and basically get back to basics. Of course my new position would make me highly suspicious that the core values will be retained to begin with.
Perhaps you can try to show how they have ignored the larger group? How the old Aware has spent a disproportionate amount of time and effort on LGBT instead of this ‘larger group’?: 139) lobo76
The context by which I wrote my comment was in the context of ‘recent times’, the same reason that the new exco gave, that the old team has ‘lost its focus and a return to basics is imminent’.
I have stated over and over again that I cannot fault the old team for the great work they have done and the advancement of the numerous causes of the women at large over the years. I applaud them and I will never hesitate to give them credit for this.
It is in recent times, for a good two to three years no less, that their focus has been solely focussed on championing and pushing the gay agenda. This is not wrong and I will never agree that this is wrong. I have nothing against gays. But by putting all your energy and resources to achieving this end, it is inevitable that the larger community will be rubbed the wrong way. You cannot fault anyone who thinks along this line – which happen to be the majority by the way – for wanting the society to change its direction to focus on the larger community, the majority, crying out for assistance, or worried about the gay agenda, which I now learn, has been introduced to schools these past years.
Mirax, when the dust are settled, people will see the picture for what it is.
This is how I liken the situation to be.
You have a group of people, putting old woods in one corner. Year after year they do this without consideration given to the consequence of having a huge pile of dead and dry woods left unattended. Someone comes along and sets fire to it.
The people who placed the woods there try to distinguish the fire but they realized they do not have enough water to do that. They forgot or they did not think that the wood would catch fire, whether by self-combustion or by mischief.
They started to jump up and down blaming the fire-starter and ignoring the burning wood. Worst still, they continue to fan the fire and in the process making the fire burn more furiously. The more furiously the fire burns, the more they blame the fire-starter. This is the story so far.
One more thing, may I suggest, if you want to continue in this discussion, to best stick to your points of argument. There is no need to attack one’s affiliation, one’s faith and one’s choice.
You and I have the same intention, and that is to see the success of AWARE and the all-encompassing causes it champions. Our focus is toward this end.
The other part is I am doubtful of you implying that being pro family necessarily means not supporting the homosexual rights, how does gay rights affect family formation then? The case remains for you to be proven. :bismarker
I don’t get your line argument bismarker. You are asking the larger community of straight and normal (I hate to use this word and I am not implying that gays are not normal) women to prove their womanhood? I believe the case should be one which you have to proof, how is gay rights affecting family formation in a conservative and very much traditional society that is Asian Singaporeans?
The other thing regarding liberal and conversatives, you seem to be confused over the idea of rights as being a matter of opinion.
I don’t think so. Take a look around here. We have practically 99% of pro-Old AWARE supporters stating their opinion as if it is a ‘rights’ in itself. “The COOS are individually anti-gay therefore AWARE is anti-gay, or, the individuals are COOS are pro-family, therefore anti-abortion.” Now tell me, are these opinions or ‘rights’? They speak as if the new exco would be what they fear it would be, an opinion. Overly simplistic and highly damaging to sound reasonings.
This brings us to the question on the ‘ethos of inclusiveness’. This simple sentence or phrase is the most hard to achieve, you would surely agree. This is where the old AWARE ought to have realized and not push one agenda too hard over another. There has to be moderation. Surely it is a no brainer that pushing gay rights would have the opposite adverse effect. Just like side-stepping the Christian or Muslim or Hindu view will go a long way to determining what you really are. It has to be inclusive and because of our diverse multi-whatever backgrounds, the moderate approach is the only option.
There is much the old AWARE can learn from this saga. I hope they come out of this stronger than ever before for the sake of all women, and our society at large.
GREED! This is nor what a leader should have!
Dear Juanty
Yes supporters yes some are to hostile but have u examined in your heart your actions, and whether you have been defending lying, toeing the party line until all came out last nite ?
Locke
One tactic of the fundies to play the victim card when they are plainly the aggressors. Hence jaunty above with his/her martyr complex. Don’t buy into it, good people of Singapore.
Death threats – if real, but I remain hugely sceptica l – are deplorable and need to be fully investigated. No blog has the right to put up the names of any child or the school they may be attending .
A few cyber insults – I would deliver them face to face if i knew jaunty- are par for the game. But even that is totally unnecessary when jaunty’s words prove him/her to be such an ass. If i were juanty, ‘”fat” or ‘stupid’ is the last thing I would worry about…
Whatever I have wrote about are not originated from myself, not my personal opinion or ideas. All that I have written are actually an aggregation of information collectable from the various locations on net. As such, I do not need to examine the information, it is purely an action of aggregating the things I saw and put them together in the form of comments to share with the rest of the netizens.
If someone were to judge my intent and assume my position, or worst, to have develop any kind of hatred towards me, then all I could say is, it is his or her personal choice.
Dear Locke, thank you for speaking in a nice tone.
To mirax,
In fact it is healthy to have an ass. Everyone should have one, if you don’t, please see a doctor.
Dear lockeliberal,
I can see your passion when you argue your case but one thing you have to keep in mind, and that is, there are others who believe in their convictions as strongly as you do yours. Surely, you would be one to understand this, especially when the person you look up to, John Locke, had to face the same scrutiny in his life time.
Give Juanty his space and argue his points if you must, not the person. This is what a great philosopher would do.
Dear mirax,
This is an extract from my post somewhere in #156, which is still in the moderation queue.
“…..may I suggest, if you want to continue in this discussion, to best stick to your points of argument. There is no need to attack one’s affiliation, one’s faith and one’s choice….“.
Thank you.
It now looks like Josie & the Pussycats went to Outer Space and brought back Darth Vader.
Another post somewhere mentioned the irony of the situation -
The president of AWARE had to get “three burly men” into the office and one of the new Exco’s husband walked around the office (what right does he have to do so) with a recording device round his neck – to intimidate the (female) office staff. Haha, truly to protect oppressed women; and
now we know that Thio Su Mien has come out of the closet, too!
It would be hilarious if it was not so grim.
So where are those who assert that the takeover was not planned and executed in a really sneaky and disgusting manner?
Sorry Gemami, but despite your mea culpa on the other thread, I still don’t see you as a fairminded, disinterested interlocutor.
If you were, you would have taken issue with jaunty’s post #152 first.
Talk about a broadbrush personalised attack!
Going with Star Wars theme, HT, the sith types should watch out for Mirax Terrik Horn…
To mirax
My comment on #152 is questioning the caliber of supporters that the old exco seems to have. I did not use any word like stupid, fat or ass?
If the supporters of old exco deemed that being fat, stupid and having an ass is insulting to a human being, then can I ask if the old exco discriminate people who are not as intelligent, is fat and having an ass??
Fine with me mirax, the fight is not mine.
Mirax – Stay the course – u are right! It’s now whine time. Why r u victimising me? what hv I done to deserve this ? (eyes rolling) I rec’d death threats…someone called me “fat” ! boo hoo. The martyr complex is well documented amongst extremists and we are now seeing all the classic signs.
Gem, Jaunty has had more than enough space the postings made by Jabby are meant to confuse and not to reason. Jabby gets upset when people say rude things to him but look at Jabby’s nastiness as evident in his postings.
Anyway I digress.
Whether or note the EGM can remove the Josietes remains to be seen. These fundies are not without wealth or influence (why don’t they use it for a really good cause?) and are absolutely fanatical – don’t just believe me, study your history from the religious wars in Europe to the Mid-East and ruthless. But everyone, what fundies of any description cannot take is humour. Laugh at them. Ridicule them. Deride them.
To #133) David
So you have cut your DBS card into pieces and return to the bank. And you will from now on by loyal customer to OCBC and UOB. Cool.
You better hope that the following scenario will not take place:
(1) that in the future, no staff of both OCBC & UOB who will sing the same tune as the new exco would join the new exco.
(2) that Josie Lau would not join OCBC or UOB in her future endeavours.
If any of the above took place, you will be left with not many choice of banks here.
Thanks HT.
I think you guys have a bigger problem than to get involve with irrelevant quarrels.
The AWARE old guards need your help and things are not looking good if you could take a peek at what Zefly (Joshua) has linked in #151.
Channel your effort toward this end.
Dear Gemani
How Pro Gay was aware in the scheme of things as alleged by Darth Thio ?
Firstly how PRO GAY was AWARE apart from Sect 377A ? What is the list of their supposed pro gay activities.
1. One Movie. Fine where was Darth Thio and her stormtroopers when Brokeback Mountain was publicly showing in Singapore ?
2. Sex Education. AWARE has always like feminist advocated Pro Choice , and Pro Condom use and informing teenagers about homosexuality without making moral judgements. Is that being Pro Gay ? The fact that you tell kids what is out there without making the moral judgements of right or wrong , is it Pro Gay ?
\
3. And notice Maureen was against any form of sex education full stop, including abortion contraception, as her religious and intellectual roots are with the abstinence crowd.
4. Half of letters and issues championed by AWARE under the old guard was on abortion, teenage sex, and foreign workers. How Pro Gay is it or Gay Friendly ?
5. Thio Su Mien is a lawyer the Law Society supported 377A why doesn’t darth Thio go and take over the Law Society and refocus its values ? Errrr afraid of the ISD ?
6. Maureen Sweet old dear old foot in her mouth Maureen spoke of the need to lobby against Syriah law before changing her comments ? Another slip of the tongue ? Come on one and all Xtian fundie speak against Muslims has been well documented in the US. But Maureen in charge of Aware letting it shoot ?
Locke
To #133) David
So you have cut your DBS card into pieces and return to the bank. And you will from now on by loyal customer to OCBC and UOB. Cool.
You better hope that the following scenario will not take place:
(1) that in the future, no staff of both OCBC & UOB who will sing the same tune as the new exco would join the new exco.
(2) that Josie Lau would not join OCBC or UOB in her future endeavours.
If any of the above took place, you will be left with not many choice of banks here
=======
Oh…I am quite sure there staffs like Josie in the other two banks. But at least, they properly disciplined and under control and behave like what good pets should be.
Hi,
I dunno much about AWARE and the work they do. But what happened recently just caught my eye. And I have been reading non stop.
I think its boils down to ethics. It is just not right for someone to just brush aside people who have contributed years of work with such disrespect. That action alone speaks volume of the kind of stewardship that is to come.
precisely my point gemani,
you have NOT proved how being pro family and gay rights are CONTRADICTORY views. your version of ‘family’ is only one where it’s the traditional nuclear family, so who are you to judge on what kinds of families there should be?
then you go on contradiciting yourself by saying that pushing the Christian view of something too hard would sidestep your position….
well that’s what we all have been trying to say about the new committee haven’t we? pushing THEIR views of what they think that things should be, claiming under the facade of pro-family, pro-women?
so the other thing is you’re using the line of logic saying that our SINGAPOREAN society is Asian and conservative, thus we have to take care of other views, great, that’s fine, if most people believe that women should stay at home and cook then we ought to be sensitive to ‘these’ people views right?
even assuming in which we have to take care of these somewhat problematic views, just it justify a coordinated takeover that most of the committee members have NO experience whatsoeversome in promoting women rights for the past amount of years?
so if you say it’s all about being right in the constitution and all about playing by the rules, then it’s okay then to have an EOGM because firstly, the constitution allows for being so, secondly manipulation is fine because a certain Dr Thio thinks its justified in doing so, and thirdly that’s the way NGOs are supposed to run, half a year wearing red shirts and the other half wearing yellow shirts.
Hi #172) lockeliberal
One Movie.
Your contention is flawed. The point of contention is the sanctioning of Spider Lilies by a women advocacy group. I am sure if it had sanctioned Brokeback, the same screams would be heard loud and clear.
2. Sex Education
I am not so sure about your line of argument. I am hearing that the old AWARE had been pushing for pro-gay education in the school syllabus. This is taking it a wee bit too far. I shall not argue this until I know for certain.
3… against any form of sex education
I agree. It can be clearly seen with the recent developments.
4. How Pro Gay is it or Gay Friendly?
It depends on the side you’re on doesn’t it? If your inclination is nearer the gay-neutral gauge, you would be less affected, whilst if you are further from it, it will affect you more. It is the case here. As we now know, the new exco is extreme and this is why the covert takeover.
5. Let’s not add fuel to fire. I do not like speculations and you ought to know by now ;)
6.… slip of the tongue
I’ll give her the benefit of doubt. No speculations.
175) bismarker on April 24th, 2009 2.40 pm
Ha! Ha! Ha! you’re cute.
You ask me to proof my version of ‘family’. Come on bismarker, you go walk into any family and tell me what you see. Wait, I can tell you. 99 out of 100 times you will see a father, a mother and some children. The father and mother would later become grandparents while the children could be seen with a happy other from the opposite sex. The cycle continues from generation to generation.
It is the 1 percent of families, that you will come across parents, grappling with the sudden discovery that they are never going to be grandparents even though they have healthy sons and daughters.
It is based against this backdrop that my arguments were presented for discourse.
then you go on contradicting yourself by saying that pushing the Christian view of something too hard would sidestep your position….
I half-concede this to you. I would have been guilty as charge if I had not considered the fact nothing concrete had came out from the new exco at the point of my argument. Of course, after recent development it is clear I am guilty of this, but again, not without reason.
if most people believe that women should stay at home and cook then we ought to be sensitive to ‘these’ people views right?
This is exaggeration and putting words in my mouth and you know it. This is extremely wayward and backward which was never my view.
… most of the committee members have NO experience whatsoever some in promoting women rights .
Agree and I admit I missed out this consideration because it never figured in my points of contention, which was the legitimate and constitutional election of the new exco. Well, that was before the proven theory that a planned coup was orchestrated for the takeover.
Your red and yellow shirt comment is the cutest and I enjoyed it.
This is in regard to the comment by Mirax
I wish to point out that in our school of higher leanings, there are gay lecturers who publicly asked their student to stand out as gay. There is also a pink dot gatherings by gay activists next month.
Homosexuality like adultery is a sin in any which way you look at it. It breaks family and it is just plain not natural. We cannot call it a sin and say that it is all right . Tell me which religion cordons homosexuality?
We know that we cannot eradicate it just like prostitution but we simply cannot let it promote itself as a hip lifestyle or that it is the right path. Anybody who voices the opposite view is subject to being a christian fundamentalist
I am a member of COOS and I stand on my belief that there is an alternative to the homosexuality. You can go to the church website to read about it
I am proud of the new president of AWARE and salutes her for taking the post even though she might lose her job and the safety of her children is threatened.
Tell me, how many Singapore women or even man would stand out to take a post that means risking her child’s lives and job.
For the media bashing and continued cyber bashing of Ms Lau, pls understand that she doesn’t gain anything from being the president. If she is doing this for the women of Singapore, I think we should give her a chance.
If you still do not like her after that, join AWARE and kick her out after the next AGM.
gemani,
Thank you for your compliments, if sarcasm is lost on you well…..
Funny thing that you say generations and generations of people giving marrying, then giving birth, then becoming grandchildren. That’s great, no wonder the government is so concerned about fertility problems then, wait let’s not forget some people choose to abort, choose not to have children, and many have kids before marrying. So should AWARE being the “pro-family” unit now has to state, now, let’s focus on the basics here. here’s step 1 to setting up a family, then….
of course you would mention you didn’t imply that, which you’re right, to say being pro-family is one thing, to state and define what is ‘family’ then saying we are pro this ‘family’ is another. That’s your belief on things that fine, of course that doesn’t mean everyone would agree with you, much less telling people how things should be.
Unless, of course by your definition of having you’re assuming that having a family means to have kids, then well things make ‘sense’ when you argue that when homosexuality is a ‘choice’, then everyone will choose to become lesbians and homosexuals, we will not have the next generation.
which really makes the fertility problem very easy to solve.
Phoenixfly,
of course people are going to do that. it’s just different when it’s called eogm instead of agm. all in the semantics hope u don’t mind.
and if you want to state your views, don’t tell people to visit some website, at least provide a link or something, but before that, make sure there’s some validity in the website.
and of course she doesn’t stand to gain anything from being part of all that you, neither do you from posting on this website about homosexuality being a sin.
for the record, there are lots of people who don’t have a religion, so how would you and ms josie clarify to them then?
Phoenixflyfly,
You think being gay, like sinning, is a choice. Therefore you equate it to being a sin. It is not. Who in their right mind would want to subject themselves to such foaming hatred? And don’t kid yourself, it IS foaming hatred. There is a nice doco you can watch “For the Bible Tells me so” if you can get over your xenophobia i.e. fear of all things different.
You will get your answer to the question (Tell me which religion cordons homosexuality?) there. As an appetizer: wiki Gene Robinson, a gay bishop.
Prostitution which you so undeftly equated homosexuality to, IS a choice and can be consider a sin by scripture, but it is a heavily loaded “choice.” Maybe there are people eager to be prostitutes, who knows? Homosexuality, heterosexuality, and prostitution are not lifestyles. It sounds like a “canned” equation this homo-prostitution line, I wonder who indoctrinated you. COOS, you say?
The “family” unit i.e. a father, a mother and children is a social construct. Marriage for much of history was for sheer practicalities i.e. alliances and protecting family wealth, and not love. And as we all know, it wasn’t always 1 man, 1 woman. How the Mormons “do it” should get your blood pumping.
“There is no such thing as a traditional family. Families have taken every shape imaginable throughout history.” Stephanie C. Professor of History in Family Studies, Evergreen State College.
“There has been no society ever in history that was able to have a stable marriage system based on the notion of romantic love.” – Professor of Sociology, NYU
Expose yourself to some history.
St. Thomas Aquinas, I think, observed that homosexuality doesn’t occur in nature, and concluded it’s unnatural. We have come A LONG WAY since then: it does occur in nature. He just didn’t look hard enough. Don’t be so insulated, just google it.
As for the deaththreat, I don’t know enough to speculate if it is a lie. But I do know Josie has set a precedent for dishonesty.
P.S. I appreciate that you are aboveboard about where you are coming from, church and ideology. Or is it one and the same?
Phoenixflyfly,
U are absolulety free to have your beliefs. Josie, Maureen & Thio Su Mien too. Worship whichever way you like at COOS. That’s fine. But, please, keep it to yourself and those who freely agree to listen to you. Can u understand that?
AWARE was and is not a pro-gay organisation – please get that into your head. This is not a pro-gay / anti gay issue.
The death threats if real, are deplorable but I am doubtful. That seems to come from “Fundie Strategies for Dummies”, Chapter 2 Countering Reason, under Section 13(c) – Playing the Martyr”
if Josie Lau claim to be a reluctant leader, she would be willing to step down graciously.
events unfolding speaks otherwise.
—————————————————————————————————-
the with the current situation as it is, there are enough reasons to vote this new team out, without needing to dwell on religious & gay issues.
new Exco has a different enough agenda to warrant setting up a new advocacy group on their own, & they should.
Phoenixflyfly
In the 17th century, Galileo was nearly burnt at the stake for heresy because he discovered that the Earth and other planets revolved around the sun. The Church defended their positions that the sun revolved around the Earth by citing the following references-
Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include (depending on translation) text stating that “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.” In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, “the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place” etc.[87]
At this moment, the truth is still out there if homosexuality is a choice or due to genes. You are of course entitled to believe what you believe in, but please state clearly that it’s your belief, and not say it as fact. Let’s stop making a statement of opinion or belief a statement of fact, can?
Ms Josie Lau, your answers seem evasive during your interview. When asked, if a woman was discriminated in her workplace because of her sexual orientation, your answer was not very positive. It sounds like you were trying to avoid saying your team will help that woman. Is it because of your religion and your church? Your church is very anti-homosexuals according to reports. So if you are so religious, it means you MUST comply with your church’s stand on homosexuals. Then how can we expect you to be impartial when dealing with lesbians? Obviously, you are already biased against them. You cannot be objective. And please dont tell us you will counsel them and lead them to the right path. Please. They are humans too. They chose their path. They chose to love the way they want. You think you are a saint and can counsel people? Look at the way you took over AWARE. It is like military coup you know. How can you gain respect this way? You are the VP of credit card dept in DBS. I am sure you are capable in your own way. So what happened here? Your leadership skills are obviouly lacking. We dont want leaders like that. I definitely don’t want my female friends to be counselled by you or Thio Su Mien. They will become extremists and elitists instead. Can you please bury your head in the ground?
This is what I can conclude from the reports over the past few days. Definitely a conspiracy with intent of a unfriendly takeover. Who is this Josie Lau? Till now, we still do not have a clear picture of what are the plans this new committee has for the organisation. I cannot help linking the events to that of religion beliefs since majority of the new team are from the same church. Though I am not a Christian, I have many friends who are. Their teachings like others promote harmony. They are embarassed at the attention this episode is generating.
Instead of takeover, why not the new team form a new organisation? Then, we can judge who can do a better job.
Some of you mention stealth Christian propaganda in schools. This thing has been happening since the 1960s. I remember my class teacher would invite us kids to saturday sing-along sessions where drinks and sandwiches were served free. When you’re only 8 years old, you go and enjoy yourselves and then get pulled into all their Christian activities. In the classrooms the teacher would teach us to sing only Christian songs. Some kids who came in the top 3 positions in class would receive prizes from the teacher — you guess it, Christian book prizes. It’s time the authorities crack down on all these, but I tell you, it might be too late. Just count their numbers in parliament.
Josie lau is stupid and a disgrace to women.
she is a VP of Marketing for DBS, she sure does not know how to market and brand herself. Total disgrace to the advertising and marketing industry!
As a christian, she lies and steals. She shows no compassion how can she be compassionate and help women who are in need?
She is showing her true ‘christian ways’ by judging and disprecting women who are different from her
All i see is she wants fame for herself! A woman like her would not have compassion for anyone ex herself!
She position herself as greedy, disprectful, idiot and a total corporate pig
It is time that she gets her greatest revenge!
DBS decides that it is time she leaves her position and give way to better mannered woman who can do her job better and less proud and irritating than her
She finds that one of her baby girl is a closet lesbian
Christian, what are they good for? Talking big and bullying people who are different from them. What kind of church is this? They meet once a week, sings songs, say a few praises. And leave the church bitching about one another. U always see selfish church goers, parking their big parks illegally and blocking everyone!
Church is a waste of time and shape idiots and proud people like her
Big bully and shameless!!!!
taking over Aware is less than half the battle won, the real battle (if they remain in place), i mean advocacy work has not even began. with all the negative publicity showing how badly they handled it, only goes to show they are not able to fill the old “guards” shoes.
to give any support to the new Exco is the andorse they way they took over Aware. the negative implications cannot be good for our tiny nation.
New Aware or old aware really doesn’t matterd to me. I’m very concerned though that what kind of values my children will be exposed to when they are growing up. I am pro-family for sure and I hope that my children grows up sharing the same values. I really don’t want organisations out there that have their own agendas trying to influence my children to accept their value systems. Is MOE neutral about this? Should I still send my children to public school or should I home-school them? Is it inevitable that our Singapore society must go down this path that promotes liberalism? All of you can fight all you want on your stance on homosexuality and bash one anothers’ religions or even individuals. But who really cares about lay people like us?
#189 neutralman,
home school your children then. and the safest way is to ensure they totally dont come into contact with other kids who may have been taughtt the wayward ways and definitely no contact with adults that try to influence your children with their value systems.
very very safe then. so you dont have to worry what’s going out with the real world outside.
i think some parents can be counted to locked their children u for the rest for their lives “for their good”…
scary… -.-”