From Glass Castle:
At the end of March, AWARE held an AGM attended by a large bloc of new members, many of whom had not previously been especially active in the organisation (according to the Straits Times, a large majority of them had only joined the organisation in the preceding 3 months).
They proceeded to elect a new executive committee dominated by anti-gay activists. The new President (who has since, bizarrely, resigned), Claire Nazar, has publicly said that in her interpretation of her religion, Christianity, homosexuality is an ‘abomination’ and ‘the [result] of sin and flouting of God’s moral order’. The new honorary secretary, Jenica Chua, has previously criticised NMP Siew Kum Hong for his support for the legalisation of gay sex by referring to ‘the homosexual agenda’ and ‘the homosexual interest group’, language which originates from Christian fundamentalist movements in America.
Their supporters at the meeting included more individuals with clear connections to anti-gay Christian fundamentalist activism. Among these was Angela Thiang, who works in a company headed by infamous anti-gay Christian NMP Thio Li Ann [Edited to Add on 14 April: this was an error in the original article; in fact the company is headed by Thio's mother, Thio Su Mien: on which see here], and who has publicly spoken in favour of Section 377A and in opposition to abortion rights. There was also Dr Alan Chin, who has used the language of American Christian fundamentalists by referring disapprovingly to ‘the gay lifestyle’.
Many of the members who voted for this new executive committee had only joined recently and were not well-known to active existing members of AWARE – suggesting that they were a new faction, rather than representing and reflecting the existing values of the group. In other words, the organisation appears to now be run not by secular feminists but by sectarian fundamentalists. It is likely that they will use it to push through a new agenda, promoting visions of gender, sexuality and women’s rights which are contrary to what AWARE previously stood for.
This has severe implications for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and civic society at large. Even if you consider yourself wholly indifferent to feminism or LGBTQ rights, please sit up and pay attention. They could come for you next.
Read the rest of the article here.
Read also: From now on, be wary of AWARE by Alex Au.
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Bravo – a fight may be brewing’ The old versus the new.
In all of Singapore’s history, they has never been such a clash between women with 2 men at the sidelines.
Is the the trigger and wake up call for more to come ? Perhaps having good and credible opposition members contesting all the seats in parliament
smallvice_585 (#44).
The comparison is a strange one to begin with.
On the one hand, we have the PAP, an institution that has plugged every hole that gives advantage to the opposition in its half century of rule. If this is seen as legal, than it is, simply because the opposition knows exactly what they are coming up against.
On the other hand, we have a bunch of aunties who have grown too big for their heads, and who have done nothing to ensure that the association’s vision and mission and interests are adequately protected from such ‘abnormalities‘ as a vote swing.
Now, pray tell me, who is to blame?
A (PAP) NMP is part of the losing team – that could be why you have all the fuss sulking , hissing, bad sport and as usual lack of graciousness and congratulatory messages for thenew.
The victory of the new committee shows just how complacent and ignorant the old committee members are.
I read in TODAY today that this old group of disgruntled women are calling for a EGM to pass a vote of no confidence on the new committee. What the heck! !The new committee has not done anything yet except to get elected. Please let the new have a chance. Dont be SORE LOSERS. You will have a chance the next time round. Also i dont think it is legal to have this EGM for a vote of no confidence. Natural justice requires the vote to be taken only if there is some wrong-doing.
Also are you concerned that the new committee may uncover something???
A very good point. We have yet to hear any congratulatory messages for the new team, a very smart team even, for pulling off the takeover.
AWARE is 500 members strong. Does anyone out there know exactly how the association is run? Could there be underlying issues that prompted the takeover? Perhaps, this is a group of members who have their views constantly overlooked, therefore the takeover?
Point is, we can speculate till the cow comes home but we still cannot deny the simple fact that the election was according to the constitution and very simply, any member of AWARE must abide by the outcome, whether they like it or not.
If there is a need to really blame someone, then may I suggest the old hags start considering OBAMA.
The sore losers want an EGM. For what? If they think they were caught unAWARE and with their skirts and underwear down who is to be blamed . They themselves have to be blamed for being complacent. They don’t have a mind of their own. They pander to fads and liberalism thinking they are modern and stylo female creatures.
They deserve being booted out. The EGM is illegal. it is mutiny. They are sore losers.
Might as well set up a committee to serve for life and do away with elections. What is an election for?
What will happen should one day the people of Singapore decide to vote the opposition into power and the PAP govt start behaving like these AWARE old hags spoilt brats?
Like I said, if they cannot accept the fact that a fully constitutional election process has taken place, then they ought to get out and get lost. The members have spoken and spoken loudly. Why are these old hags deriding their choice?
And to think these old hags are questioning their motives for joining AWARE. Aren’t these aunties the ones who approved their memberships in the first place? Talk about complacency and taking things for granted. This is the price they will have to pay and they cannot blame anyone else for being the dumba**e* that they are.
Bravo to these “old hags”. They may have been caught with their skirts down but which civic group really takes pains to anticipate a power grab by a sudden descent of religious zealots?
The EGM call shows that they are finally getting their act together & not giving up without a fight.
Never too late in my opinion, to stand up to constitutional abuse & to expose the those with less than honorable motives & hidden agendas.
“Yet I am obliged to tolerate their silly beliefs,…”, so are you the very clever ang mor? How come the USA has seen the wisdom of voting a black into power?
The society of ang mor Europe is breaking down. The number of bastards (children born out of wedlock) have reached record levels, so it is not surprising that the British are bringing in shariah law to address this downgrade of morality.
There is too much focus on the anti-gay stance of the new Aware members. I do not think that their target here are the gays. Aware has not been talking much about gays.
Take a look at Aware’s Letters to the Press.
http://www.aware.org.sg/?page_id=584
There is nothing about gays. However, note that Aware has written many times in favour of keep abortion legal, and safe sex education. These are the things the fundies will want to change by taking over Aware.
Fundies are not only anti-gays, they also want to ban abortion, and are against contraceptives and safe sex education. In fact, they have recently brought up the abortion issue in the Press and in Parliament. Aware is just another way for them to add more pressure.
If you want to live in a society where their sex-hating morality form the laws, then by all means ignore them.
So Claire Nazar decided she needed some outside muscle to settle an internal dispute but was surprised when the help overdid things but ousting more then what she expected? So was her surprise at the large turnout that day an act, or did her friends decide that they know what’s best?
From what written here, seems like Claire got cold feet…
I have no problems with Christian groups advocating an anti-gay, pro-family lifestyle. However, it is NOT their place to do so from the platform of a secular advocacy group.
AWARE’s membership and leadership has worked hard to build up a reputable organization which looks out for ALL women’s rights, regardless of race, orientation, age, status, income etc. Who now shall look out for the non-Christian, gay women who may be subject to abuse or need help?
If the Christian group was unhappy with how AWARE ran things, the right thing to do would have been to set up their own advocacy group whose constitution was aligned with the church. Challenge AWARE as a rival group. They should NEVER force religion down the throats of the unwilling.
In any case, Singapore is a secular country which respects all religions. We cannot afford to have our watchdog bodies and NGOs being dominated by any particular religious group. Such groups are free to run their own charities and interest groups but should never be in a position to affect policymaking which affects the lives of all Singaporeans.
In her press release, Josie Lau challenges the old guard to come clean about their hidden agendas. I would say, they have shown what their agendas are…. over the past decade or so. It is the new leadership, which has been economical with the truth who should make known their agendas.
They refuse to say who they are, what they want and whether or not they knew each other beforehand and how, even though it has now come to light that many attended the same Anglican church. Why the secrecy, if they have nothing to hide?
57) gemami on April 15th, 2009 10.56 am
What is an election for?
What will happen should one day the people of Singapore decide to vote the opposition into power and the PAP govt start behaving like these AWARE old hags spoilt brats?
A more accurate analogy would be 7 million Malaysians suddenly taking up Singapore Citizenship and electing Mahathir, a known champion of the bumiputera system, as Prime Minister. One does not have to wait for him to carry out his first act in office to be scared enough about the implications to protest. Also similarly, the new citizens and leader, having so little stake in the country, will undoubtedly face resentment from the longtime citizens.
There is legitimate concern for AWARE turning into a Christian fundementalist group because, if they were not after drastic changes in the way things were run, would there have been a need to take such drastic and public action?
I was exceedingly impressed by the Strait’s Time’s response to this issue. One point for the MSM!
Thanks for the info todate. Without, the transparency is unknown to Public like myself. It’s disheartening, ‘open doors’ of an IPC marginalised, especially for a then X-generation teen seeking family violence info for housewife mum. Women like me benefitted from AWARE’s public eduation & remembered old faces like Constance Singam. What’s race & religion? AWARE prevents undermining of women thru self-realization/help, for wellbeing & ‘freedom of choice’ of women that’s AWARE imprinted in my mind. I applaud these women with all the money/energy to check-off opportunity costs for social causes. Socio-culture changes; gays~inset of women, so after dust-sets oscars-over (if all readings are grounded), is AWARE still for women’s causes. It’s logically necessary to sustain relevance to socio-culture developments involving women to help timely,impartially,independently. Question is ‘Will women issues not aligned to by-agendas such religion/sexuality get filtered away from lobbying for the public’s & govt’s awareness/support?’~ you can already imagine who are those rendered unhelpable at the door. Where are the independent nomination directors when you need 1?
why are there so many christians farting smelly fart on this forum? we buddhist don’t buy it