Do U care about AWARE?
-
jedamum:
Who decides? Readers right?
powerful is ok so long it is objective. :idea:
-
insider:
Thank you insider for taking time to pen down your thoughts on what transpired during the EGM... It was a long day for you as well. My view as an outsider... The ex \"new guards\" were simply not ready to take the EXCO positions, their involvement appears to have been orchestrated by one \"feminist mentor\". Based on available media information, I do not find that Josie Lau and team have the same conviction as one who so strongly wants to further the feminist cause.Was an emotional EGM with a clear cut floor signal that there is no way the new Exco could win.
Overall, speakers from the old guards were almost all very firm and well spoken, expressing with passion and conviction of their championship while the new guard was more hesitant (shaky) in their positions and sdelivery. Think the new guard lose completely when one of its member shouted over the mic the exact words of “SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!!” to the emotional group. Josie apologized on her behalf but the damage was done. The speaker subsequently also apologized at the demand of the floor and she did so reluctantly with something that sounded like a half apology.
I was surrounded (sitting among of) by the gay and lesbian community that seemed to have turned up in full force. On my left was a Catholic (look like an ordinary woman) and on my left were two Christians (one is married with kids and the other looks ‘manly’). These three couldn’t agree with the narrow view of the new guard as well as the way the new guards’ church had got themselves involved in this social matter. One felt disgusted when she received sms from church members to attend the EGM to give support to their 'sisters' and she thinks it is wrong to do so in the name of God).
The homosexual communities have no qualms about expressing their sexual orientations. Contributions from the floor include a gay who declared that he is one of such and wanted to know people like him is it lesser than other humans (something to that effect). Some cried while sharing their struggles when dealing with the hardships of being a woman (of different issues) and declared support of the old guards from helping them to surf things through. Academics (trainers, teachers and researchers), heads/representatives of various VWOs/NGOs, the Muslims, the Christians, etc, all took turn to demean the new guard for the hostile takeover. Most if not all spoke with full passion of their support for the old AWARE.
CSE materials were mentioned with experts standing up to defend the contents. Then, both sides gave their 'research reports' with the old guard saying the new guard extracted statistics from biased source while their statistics were from independent sources that were used by reputable international organisations. There were several parents speaking up on the support for the CSE workshops.
The votes took much longer to be counted (about 2 to 3 hours). After the results of the votes were announced, the new guard was requested to resign. The new guard then sought the advice of the legal advisor (from Rajar & Tann) who said that logically they should resign but they do have a choice not to and challenge such ‘request’ in courts. The new guard was then given 5 minutes to discuss among themselves whether they prefer to resign on their own accord or they want the floor to stage a motion to have them remove.
Several 5 minutes passed and the new guard didn’t appear again, meaning they seemed to have left without leaving a word even though there were supposed to return after 5 minutes. At 8.50 pm, a motion was passed to have them removed, followed by the election of the new Exco. (heard from news just that they actually did return at around 10 pm).
It was a very difficult day for the new guard. They had been bashed almost from the beginning of the EGM to the end. It is apparent that they are not sure of their own constitution (that have many clauses) since they had just taken over the positions and had to keep referring to their leval advisor for advice.. Their replies to those queries on the sacking of the various old guards showed that they didn’t seem to have solid enough reasons (their reasons were mainly based on the ‘book’ and not on how a normal management team would usually conduct dismissal of senior position staff, such as “You were dismissed because you were supposed to submit a report on xxx date and you failed to do so, meaning you are incompetent’).
While I feel bad for the new guard for having to pull through a hard day like this (I went there at around 11.30 am and only managed to leave at around 9.30 pm and they are still there!), they are simply not ready for the positions yet. The new guard representatives are simply still inexperienced in handling the media effectively and therefore not convincing.
Right now that the new guard is out, there still leaves with matter that I believe the old guard will not let them off. As at 31 Dec 08, AWARE has a surplus fund of about $100,000+, but the new guard has blown off at least $90,000 during their 1 month position there. Their constitution power only gives them the right to spend $20,000 per month. The old guard may push them to make good the difference as they had spent beyond their rights.
This saga is completely unnecessary from the beginning in my opinion. So much resources and so many people, incl of the new guard, were hurt in it. I sincerely believe that the new guard are nice people (their backgrounds are outstanding) but it's just that they had been guided towards the wrong direction by whoever knows who...
Just my thoughts. -
ChiefKiasu:
I wonder if DBS will \"black mark\" her for bringing bad publicity to the organisation?JHJC:
New Exo lost. 1414 v 762.
Hmm... I guess DBS should be happy to get back the full-time services of Josie Lau. -
I like the newpaper report on the beginnings of AWARE.
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,200750,00.html
Hope that after this saga, AWARE will become stronger and wiser and continue to fight for the cause of women. -
Just finished reading the Sunday Times on this matter & I think the outcome is expected.
This episode shows that women in Singapore do voice out (but why the paraliment has so few women MPs still) and will really go all the ways to express themselves. I think this is really good.
However the old guard needs to also welcome new comment and accept constructive criticism good forward and should not be so protective over everything.
Just my thoughts on a lazy Sunday afernoon waiting for my child to return from her tuition. -
I was :!: to read that the ex new exco spent 90k in the 2 months they were in charge. Way above the 20k/mth limit they were allowed to spend without first consulting the members. They are simply not ready for running a non profit organisation…spending money in that manner.
-
I stumbled about this interesting parent exchanges about CSE (the sex education prog run by Aware) in the below blog. I am not a supporter of either the old or new Aware but I am concern about this contentious school program.
http://tampinescourt.blogspot.com/2009/04/has-moe-lost-its-mind.html -
insider:
I was surrounded (sitting among of) by the gay and lesbian community that seemed to have turned up in full force.
Sounds like a lot of homosexuals went to the EGM to give support to the old guard. Hopefully AWARE wld not become an organisation for the homosexuals after this.
Frankly, I’m quite concerned about their choice of show during the charity event reported earlier. I’m not sure what the charity event aimed to achieve. Unless the charity event was to raise funds for homosexuals, I don’t think it’s appropriate to screen a show abt lesbians.
In my opinion, regardless of religions, I think Singapore is still quite a conservative society which value traditional values, and I think traditional values are still important in weaving a more cohesive and safe society. I wld be concerned if my girls are exposed to explicit terms of performing sex such as oral/anal sex etc. in secondary school, esp if it’s being taught by teachers, and the course content seems to have touched on quite a fair bit of the “how to” of sex, which I’m not comfortable with.
Teenagers are impressionable and like to experiment. If they are introduced to something that they have not heard before, they might think that it’s fun (well, the course content says that sex is fun), and want to find out more and even try them out. I wld rather they know about the details when they’re much older, when they’re more mature in the way they see and think things.
For the record, I’m neither the supporter of the old or new guards. I’m just stating my views as a concerned mother. -
Oh…I know some gays too and they are quite likeable. However, we are now parents entrusted with the responsibilities of guiding our kids to the right path and depending on our kids’ age, we do not want some CSE program planting ideas in them that anal sex or lesbianism "is healthy" or neutral. They are too young to discern the message that is given and may be misled easily. As an analogy, if our kids eventually become drug addicts for whatever reason, we should continue to shower them with love and help them but when educators go around planting ideas in schoolkids that taking drugs is "neutral", then that becomes wrong. But I guess everyone is entitled to have their own opinion.
-
insider:
Like what I said, I’m not sure what the charity event was for. As you mentioned, if it was to encourage lesbian children to reconcile with their parents, then perhaps screening that show served to fulfil the desired outcome.
That is the danger if one were to read / know things out of context. From what I know, AWARE was offered at times movies of various themes for screening during events. At that point of time, Spider Lillies seems to be the best choice among what had been offered (many other titles might be \"spiderman\" or whatever which consists of none of what AWARE is presenting).sunflower:
Frankly, I’m quite concerned about their choice of show during the charity event reported earlier. I’m not sure what the charity event aimed to achieve. Unless the charity event was to raise funds for homosexuals, I don’t think it’s appropriate to screen a show abt lesbians.
During the Spider Lillies screening, some young lesbians brought their parents to attend the event (heard the event was attend by several pairs of mothers who have lesbian daughters). In the event, both parents and child tried to reconcile with each other (meaning AWARE maybe encouraging a mother who had chased her daughter out of the house because she is a lesbian) or to build a closer bond.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against people who are homosexuals. It’s their way of life and I respect that. There’s too much hype abt this homo thingy in this saga, which is only one part of it. What I’m more concerned abt in the CSE materials is the fact that certain terms such as ‘anal sex” and the explicit details of performing sex such that it’s “fun”, “pleasurable”, “foreplay” etc have been introduced to impressionable teenagers, which I think most, esp 12 and 13 yr olds are not yet ready and mature enough to learn abt these things. I’m not sure abt other children but for one, my tween child is still quite innocent and I wldn't want her to be exposed unnecessarily to these kind of explicit sex stuff at her age.
westmomwrote[quote]Oh...I know some gays too and they are quite likeable. However, we are now parents entrusted with the responsibilities of guiding our kids to the right path and depending on our kids' age, we do not want some CSE program planting ideas in them that anal sex or lesbianism \"is healthy\" or neutral. They are too young to discern the message that is given and may be misled easily. As an analogy, if our kids eventually become drug addicts for whatever reason, we should continue to shower them with love and help them but when educators go around planting ideas in schoolkids that taking drugs is \"neutral\", then that becomes wrong. But I guess everyone is entitled to have their own opinion.[/quote]Totally agree.
insider wrote[quote]Being an educator, I am beginning to wonder again whether is it the same case of the kids are ready but their parents are not? [/quote]I think whether kids are ready really depends on their life experiences and the exposure from their home/parents. Of course, friends/internet/media play an important role too which is why I emphasise the importance of mutual trust and 2-way communications between children and parents, so that we, as parents, wld be able to steer them in the right direction if we sense that they’re going astray.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login