More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE

April 13, 2009 by admin
Filed under: Current Affairs

Written by Ng E-Jay
13 April 2009

A storm of controversy erupted over the weekend concerning the supposed “leadership grab” in the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), with netizens raising concerns about the hijacking of the women’s rights organization by anti-gay lobbyists, as well as a few voices questioning why senior members of AWARE were apparently unaware and caught completely off-guard by the alleged coup.

According to a Straits Times article published on 10 April 2009 entitled “Unknowns knock out veterans at Aware polls”, over 100 people attended the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 28 March, the majority of whom had only joined the organization in recent months. This came as a shock to existing members who had been used to turnouts of only 30 to 40 in previous years. Former president Tan Joo Hymn told the Straits Times that she had never seen such a large turnout at the AGM during her 10 year stint with AWARE, and writer Dana Lam related that she found it strange that there were so many unfamiliar faces.

In the end, 9 out of 12 executive committee spots went to the newcomers. According to the Straits Times article, almost every position was challenged by new faces, who won by wide majorities. The post of President is still open as the newly elected Claire Nazar subsequently resigned from the top post barely a week into her tenure.

A check of the attendance list at the AGM revealed that about 80 of the 102 who turned up were new members who joined between January and March this year. According to AWARE’s senior members, the organization does not have any vetting process for new members as it prides itself on being inclusive. But since all members are given a vote at the AGM, this has led netizens to slam AWARE for exposing itself and allowing new groups to exploit its vulnerabilities in what some netizens have called an “ambush”. One netizen even wrote that AWARE fell for “the oldest trick in the book”.

But has AWARE really been usurped by a coup?

Ms Mathia Lee, an member of AWARE who has been active in its Sexuality Education programme, has a differing view. She is of the opinion that many new members have joined AWARE because the organization has in recent times turned to more mainstream women’s issues such as work-life balance and the impact of sexual harrassment at the workplace. She feels that these issues are able to galvanize mass support, and attract outspoken, enthusiastic women who are high-achievers to join AWARE. (Read Mathia’s blog here, in particular, her latest posting concerning AWARE.)

Cautioning readers to “beware of ST” and it’s “bad journalism”, Mathia ponders whether the Straits Times’ apparent attempt at slanting the article in a negative fashion could have to do with AWARE taking on more politically sensitive topics such as homosexual rights and abuse of migrant workers, as opposed to more traditional areas like the marginalization of female medical students and fair compensation for female medical workers in the civil service, which have little or no political impact. Mathia is also of the view that the people who were newly voted in are genuinely and significantly better than some of those who were NOT voted in, including herself.

Challenging the Straits Times’ claim that the newbies won by large majorities, Mathia points out that some of the margins were rather close, like 60-40, which makes a “conspiracy” unlikely in her opinion.

However, there is the lingering question of why 80% of the AGM’s attendees only joined this year, especially when AWARE’s programmes like Sexuality Education and Body Image and Self Esteem have been going on since 2008 or earlier. AWARE’s notable achievements such as revisions to the penal code concerning issues of marital rape, its contribution towards addressing gaps in Singapore’s human trafficking legislation, or its contribution towards according the same citizenship rights to the children of Singaporean women as for Singaporean men, also appear to be quite evenly spread out over the years, and not unduly concentrated in recent months. An orchestrated effort by a new group to take over the helm of AWARE thus cannot be ruled out, in my view, in light of the sudden surge in membership and the overwhelming presence of newbies at the AGM.

The perception that the new group is part of an anti-gay lobby is also of great concern for liberal minded folk like myself, as well as for existing members of AWARE like Ms Leona Lo, a prominent transsexual who has published a couple of books. (View Ms Leona Lo’s website here, in particular, her tongue-in-cheek view on the latest developments in AWARE.)

Concerns over the hijacking of AWARE by anti-gay conservatives is not unfounded. According to the Straits Times as well as the popular website fridae.com, some members of AWARE’s new committee as well as other outspoken members have written to the Straits Times Forum Page opposing the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises sexual relations between men.

In an ST forum letter entitled “Beware the high-risk gay lifestyle” published on 08 Aug 2007, Dr Alan Chin Yew Liang, who was present at AWARE’s AGM, writes that a gay lifestyle is “extremely unhealthy” as gays have a “high risk of contracting not only HIV but also a slew of other sexually transmitted diseases”. I personally wonder whether Dr Chin is even qualified to be a medical doctor in the first place, as it is obvious that both heterosexuals and homosexuals are equally at risk if they lead promiscuous lifestyles. Dr Chin’s blatant attack on homosexuals is completely unfounded and unjustified.

AWARE’s new honorary secretary Ms Jenica Chua had an ST letter published on 17 Oct 2007 in which she said that NMP Siew Kum Hong “overstepped the boundary as an NMP when he chose to represent the homosexual interest group”, and that he “should not adulterate the NMP role further by becoming the proxy representative of the homosexual interest group”.

Going by Ms Jenica Chua’s twisted logic, no one then should have the right to voice opinions on any issue, as that would mean representing only a certain segment of society. In my view, Mr Siew Kum Hong would have adulterated the NMP position if he had instead suppressed his own opinion for the sake of political correctness, which is apparently what Ms Jenica Chua would rather have him do. Clearly, Ms Jenica Chua does not want homosexuals to have their rights championed by prominent and credible members of society like Mr Siew Kum Hong.

Ms Mathia Lee however is quick to assert that AWARE remains committed to providing secular, responsible and non-discriminatory messages concerning sexuality, and that as long as she is a member, that is what she would continue working towards.

She also wants supporters of the “secular, non-discriminatory” persuasion to continue supporting AWARE, and she points out that if AWARE loses the endorsement of this group of people, then the Straits Times would have indeed achieved their objective of “damaging the credibility and effectiveness of AWARE”.

Mathia is not surprised that some of AWARE’s members hold more conservative views, as AWARE has attracted many women of mainstream persuasion in recent times, and mainstream women tend to be family oriented in addition to believing in equal rights for women. In an email response to her, I raised two issues:

Firstly, family values need not contradict gay rights or increased acceptance of gay lifestyles.
Secondly, while it is admirable for women to place high value on family, it is also my impression that so-called “family values” have been used as a tool in the past to subjugate women. So EITHER the women Mathia mentions (who are both pro-rights and pro-family) are extremely enlightened, as it means they have managed to look beyond traditional stereotypes and old prejudices and embraced a new synthesis of values that is independent of past baggage, OR perhaps they are merely trying to be politically correct.

Either way however, I agree with Mathia that we should continue to view mainstream media reports with a healthy dose of skepticism, and that “we need united support from all who share the same philosophy, in order to speak with a louder voice”.

It is my hope that the new leadership at AWARE will be transparent about their beliefs and attitudes towards issues concerning gender and sexuality discrimination, as well as their directions and plans for the organization. Until they have made the general public more aware about their intentions and mindsets, doubts will continue to plague AWARE.

Tags: AWARE, leadership grab, women's issues

Comments

7 Comments on More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE

More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE : The Wayang Party (大戏党) on Mon, 13th Apr 2009 7:31 pm

[...] Read rest of article here [...]

150 AWARE members seek vote of no confidence in new executive committee : Sgpolitics.net on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 4:10 pm

[...] SEE ALSO: More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE [...]

Anonymous on Thu, 16th Apr 2009 5:07 pm

Fantastic article.
Thank you very much.

The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 16 on Sat, 18th Apr 2009 10:28 am

[...] Gays, Aware Has Already Been Taken Over By People U Do Not Wish To Be In Power – Sgpolitics.net: More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE [Recommended] – Chemical Generation Singapore: Chemical Generation Singapore – Sam’s [...]

concernedveryvery on Sun, 19th Apr 2009 7:58 am

the new AWARE president from DBS – from what I have read so far is not too favourable in my personal opinion. from reports she did not inform dbs about being in the exco until 2 weeks after the event and hours before going for the AWARE president post. it says a lot about the person. What she said about the AWARE elections has been retorted as inaccurate and half-truths by older members. I would definitely not support dbs cards if a person like her is at the helm there.

Past Blog Posts « We-Are-Aware on Sat, 9th May 2009 3:29 pm

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Past Blog Posts on Sun, 10th May 2009 1:22 pm

[...] April 13 – More awareness needed about the “leadership grab” in AWARE [...]

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