Save AWARE part 2

It was late Sunday night, I was preparing to go to bed, when L messaged me, "check out the AWARE takeover, its big news in SG". I was intrigued by any kind of takeover... and if its big news it gotta be really good. Having the vaguest idea of AWARE, I typed "aware takeover" in google...

The first link I clicked praised the new exco (executive committee). The blogger thought that the old AWARE was "an organisation made up of the sort of Western educated Singaporean women of a certain social class whom I find particularly irksome." She congratulated the new exco, saying any change is better, and blamed the old guard (the former exco) for being complacent and sore losers.

Fine, I thought. But I still didn't know what AWARE was and what was the big deal. So I clicked the second link...I found out that the takeover was a conspiracy - the website showed lots of emails. I was short on time so I skimmed thru the emails and I saw a lot of these words, " I pray that", "May He in His almighty wisdom...", "God"... I got the creeps...

Then I got the link that finally clearly outlined the issue. The story, in my own simplified terms, is that AWARE, an associated for advocating women's rights, were deemed by a Christian church to be pro-homosexuality. Its not hard to see how it works - the church got its members to join AWARE, take part in the AGM and vote its own members into office, thus hijacking this once stable organisation for its own goals.

While ordinarily I would have said, "suck it up, old guards", the more I read about AWARE, the new exco and what they stand for, and how the takeover happened, the more concerned I got and the greater the injustice I felt.

I don't want to sound like biased but I do believe the truth is out there for people to draw their own conclusions. There are huge issues at stake here - it isn't really about the old guards being sore about losing control of AWARE. The issues, if you would forgive me for generalising, are:

Homosexuality - I saw a video given by a pastor at COOS (church of our saviour), the church which instigated the takeover, give a sermon about homosexuality. He proclaimed, based on the word of God, or the bible, that homosexuality is a sin. Anyone remember Galileo, who was prosecuted by the church for saying the earth rotates around the sun? Or the witch hunts back in the medieval times? The bible is open to interpretation. How can we allow an organisation, built on the promise of fighting for the rights of all women, discriminate against another group?

Ethics and Integrity - the way in which the AGM was hijacked was something you would only imagine in the brutal and evil world of corporate finance. Even I was amazed at how the new exco didn't invite one of their officers, because she was also a part of the original exco.

Religion - AWARE wasn't a christian group. It helped women of all race, religion and sexuality. Now its being run by a pro-christian organisation.

At the press conference, the new exco said they were surprised and upset by death threats that they've received. The curious thing, to me, is that they can't see the reason why! I'm not a woman, not gay, not in Singapore and not feminist, and yet I feel anger and resentment towards these people - is it so surprising that they've angered a lot of people?

The good news, as many people has pointed out, is that this saga has brought all these issues to discussion.

Sign the petition if you are like me, or even better, if you are able to attend the EGM, sign up as an AWARE member and go vote for justice!