MIWs Are Shocked....The Storming of AWARE In Singapore

[ahleebabasingaporethief]

The taking of AWARE was very well planned.

It left the MIWs shell-shocked.

Google search all the victors names and you will know the MIWs will also lose the support of the "happy" sector of Singapore.

It's getting worse by the day.

So please look out for more MIW "cock-sucking" organizations that can also be stormed.

Start Storming. Kenneth Jeyaratnam already started with "Like the PM I also have double firsts from Cambridge". nabei liao for the MIWs!

[miosux]

Originally Posted by ahleebabasingaporethief

The taking of AWARE was very well planned.

It left the MIWs shell-shocked.

Google search all the victors names and you will know the MIWs will also lose the support of the "happy" sector of Singapore.

It's getting worse by the day.

So please look out for more MIW "cock-sucking" organizations that can also be stormed.

Start Storming. Kenneth Jeyaratnam already started with "Like the PM I also have double firsts from Cambridge". nabei liao for the MIWs!

the ST article made the victors seem more right wing than the incumbents

[shOUTloud]

Originally Posted by miosux

the ST article made the victors seem more right wing than the incumbents

it is pretty obvious from the papers that the "new guards" are a bunch of christians interested only in gays and lesbians. I expect AWARE to be a branch of NCC and CHC soon.

Seriously though, I am not sure what is the final objective of the Christians in taking over AWARE. It is counter productive as it will galvanise the gays + lesbians to whack back.

I feel for AWARE as it seems that the organisation is going to be a battleground for a looming battle between gays and Christians leow.

more to come

[ahleebabasingaporethief]

Originally Posted by shOUTloud

it is pretty obvious from the papers that the "new guards" are a bunch of christians interested only in gays and lesbians. I expect AWARE to be a branch of NCC and CHC soon.

Seriously though, I am not sure what is the final objective of the Christians in taking over AWARE. It is counter productive as it will galvanise the gays + lesbians to whack back.

I feel for AWARE as it seems that the organisation is going to be a battleground for a looming battle between gays and Christians leow.

more to come

I sense that as well. Looks like its battle for the MIWs on mnay fronts.

Nowadays, when u attend church sermons, it is very common to hear "disguised" remarks asking all to pray for the sins of the MIWs.

Don't know about the other religions but in church, definitely.

[miosux]

Originally Posted by ahleebabasingaporethief

I sense that as well. Looks like its battle for the MIWs on mnay fronts.

Nowadays, when u attend church sermons, it is very common to hear "disguised" remarks asking all to pray for the sins of the MIWs.

Don't know about the other religions but in church, definitely.

operation spectrum part 2 on the way?

[SneeringTree]

I am utterly shocked. AWARE at best can be called gay-inclusive, it has never ever been a group that makes a strong position on gay rights. But the coup was staged by a whole bunch of known anti-gay Christians.

These people always like to accuse of anyone who empathise with homosexuals of having a gay agenda. Looks like they are the ones who have an agenda!

[annexa]

Hong Kan liao.

[shOUTloud]

Originally Posted by SneeringTree

I am utterly shocked. AWARE at best can be called gay-inclusive, it has never ever been a group that makes a strong position on gay rights. But the coup was staged by a whole bunch of known anti-gay Christians.

These people always like to accuse of anyone who empathise with homosexuals of having a gay agenda. Looks like they are the ones who have an agenda!

the problem for AWARE veterans is 1. left alone, AWARE will become a mouthpeice of the Christian Right in attacking gay rights. 2. gays and lesbians might join to set up a Left wing to counter the Right.

they have to get enough centrist people to join over the coming year to form a strong enough quorum to stand against the Right wing in the next election without involving the Left as that would certainly turn AWARE into a gay rights battleground.

I think the old guard all sibeh headache now. But then, they had been rather irrelevant in the past few years and they had allowed things to degenerate to this level. Maybe they should set up another woman rights group call Best Efforts in Women for Action and REsearch (BEWARE).

[Cthulhu]

I think this is very good news.

I strongly encourage the new fundie "owners" of AWARE to start pushing their fundie agenda. This will piss off the gay and moderates in SG.

In the end, our govt will have to intervene lest things get out of hand.

The end result is that the feminazi pappy bitch organization gets discredited, X'tian fundies get blackmarked and our govt will piss off a segment of the voting public regardless of what they do.

Talk about 3 for the price of 1!

[Nice-Gook]

I simply do not understand AWARE.Who the fuck are they?Do they really represent the female folks of sinkie?Nah ! How could a bunch of man-wannebes or old maids or spinsters represent the aspirations of women in sinkie.AWARE was and would be the political tool of PAP.Just like NTUC.CASE or what have you.The new leaders whether zealot Christians or otherwise do not make an iota of difference.They too will be the tools of PAP.Used and discarded like a condom.

[nextinfidel]

Instead, more than 100 people came, the majority of whom had joined Aware only in recent months.

And when the election of office bearers began, almost every position was challenged by new faces, who won by wide majorities.

In the end, nine out of 12 executive committee spots went to the newcomers.

One older member who won without a contest was Mrs Claire Nazar, a former corporate counsel nominated to be president by outgoing Aware chief Constance Singam.

But barely a week into her new term, and before making her first statement as president, Mrs Nazar quit suddenly this week.

She confirmed that she had resigned, but declined to say any more when reached by The Straits Times.

It is not known who will now become president.

Longtime members took two other positions: Chew I-Jin as assistant honorary treasurer and Caris Lim Chai Leng was elected a committee member.

The election results have left longtime Aware members in shock.

Former president Tan Joo Hymn, 38, told The Straits Times the big turnout at the AGM surprised her.

'I arrived at the meeting late and found out that I was No. 100 on the attendance list. I've been a member for 10 years, and never before has there been such a turnout,' said the former lawyer who is now a full-time mother.

Another former president, writer Dana Lam, 57, said: 'There were many faces I had not seen before, and I found that very strange.

'In previous years, even if there were new members, they would be known to one or more of the older members.'

The first indication that something was afoot came when Ms Chew, an Aware veteran, was challenged and defeated handsomely by new member Charlotte Wong Hock Soon for the post of vice-president.

Ms Chew was later elected unopposed as assistant honorary treasurer.

'It was alarming,' said Ms Lam. 'How could a new member who had just joined for a couple of months, and whom we knew nothing about, be picked over someone who has been with Aware for more than 15 years?'

Some of the older members immediately began checking the attendance list.

Ms Tan said: 'We found that about 80 of the 102 who turned up were new members who joined between January and March this year.'

Aware, a feminist group that has prided itself on being 'all inclusive', has never vetted the people who apply to be members.

Men can join too, as associate members.

As it dawned on them that a leadership grab was imminent, some older members at the AGM tried asking the newcomers who they were, what they stood for, and why they wanted to be in charge.

They got only the briefest answers, they said.

Ms Lam said she tried suggesting that new members serve a stint on Aware's various sub-committees before standing for election to leadership positions.

But such suggestions went unheeded as the election proceeded, with more newcomers winning executive committee positions by landslide margins.

Ironically, the old guard at Aware had been working towards changing their Constitution to make it a rule that only those who have been members for at least a year would be eligible to join the ex-co.

There is currently no rule to bar a brand new member from seeking office, and that was what happened at the AGM.

Ms Tan said: 'We were simply outnumbered. Technically, they got in legitimately.'

She added that the way the election proceeded was so unusual, it was hard to imagine that the takeover was not a planned effort.

'It could not be pure coincidence,' she said.

But little is known of Aware's new leaders, aside from the fact that they include women from the corporate sector, lawyers, company directors and academics.

Older members said the newcomers spoke well but would not elaborate on their plans for Aware.

'When asked if they believed in equality, they kept repeating they were there to support women and to make sure they got ahead and got all the opportunities given to them,' Ms Lam said.

Older members were keen to know if the newcomers shared Aware's vision and values, including equality for all regardless of race, religion or sexuality.

But one outspoken new member from the floor, who identified herself as Angela Thiang, said questions about the new office bearers' religion and their stand on homosexuality were not relevant.

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Braema Mathi, a two-term president of Aware, told The Straits Times that she, like many other members, was concerned.

'If you are keen to serve, you don't challenge every position. We do not know who they are,' said the former journalist who is now in Bangkok doing consultancy work for international women's group Unifem.

'It is very troubling, more so because I've heard the new president has resigned.'

Almost a fortnight into their new roles, the new leaders of Aware were not entertaining calls from the media this week.

New honorary secretary Jenica Chua Chor Ping told The Straits Times a press release would be issued 'in a few days' and added that until then, the committee would not answer any questions.

A check showed that some of those at the AGM and on the new committee have appeared in The Straits Times Forum Page.

Ms Chua, Ms Thiang and Dr Alan Chin, a male member of Aware who attended the AGM and supported the newcomers, all wrote letters to this newspaper between August and October 2007.

In a letter on Oct 17 that year, Ms Chua said NMP Siew Kum Hong had overstepped his non-partisan role and advanced the homosexual cause by tabling a petition in Parliament to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises homosexual sex between consenting men.

In another letter on Oct 25, she took issue with a Straits Times report which said NMP Thio Li-Ann had been 'visibly distraught' when she opposed Mr Siew's petition vigorously.

Ms Chua said Ms Thio had dealt with several points succinctly, with humour and passion.

Dr Chin and Ms Thiang both wrote letters to caution against the risks of promoting the homosexual lifestyle.

Meanwhile, news of Aware's AGM has spread among older members who did not attend the meeting, as well as civil society groups.

The most frequently-asked questions: Who are the new women in charge, why do they want the leadership, and what are their plans for Aware?

Ms Mathi said: 'The building of an institution takes many years; building its value system is even harder.

'Why can't they come in and be part of the process, and build it together and in a more evolutionary manner? That way, the comfort level will be high for everyone.'

Former newspaper editor and media consultant Peter Lim, a longtime associate member of Aware, said he was very surprised to learn what had taken place.

Asked why he thought a group of newcomers would want to take control, he said he did not know if it was an orchestrated effort.

But he thought Aware would be attractive to those seeking to be in charge of an established institution. Setting up a new outfit would take too much time and trouble.

'Aware has built up its credentials over the years and achieved more than a few things,' he said.

Three former Aware presidents - Ms Claire Chiang, Dr Kanwaljit Soin and Ms Mathi - have served as NMPs.

'Aware is a brand name and most people regard it as the leading voice of the feminists and modern women in Singapore,' said Mr Lim.

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

[johnny333]

The men in Spore are burdened by the demands of the PAP & Spore females. Time for men to organise themselves lah. We need an organisation to fight for mens rights

I propose they call the group UN-AWARE

Anyone should be able the group; NS guys, ROD NS guys, unemployed, senior citizens,..., FT & even females.

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

I believe there is a 'male rights' activist (male chauvinist to the feminist) lawyer by the name of Wong who writes into the ST forum every now and then to push local male rights. perhaps he could head this group

Originally Posted by johnny333

The men in Spore are burdened by the demands of the PAP & Spore females. Time for men to organise themselves lah. We need an organisation to fight for mens rights

I propose they call the group UN-AWARE

Anyone should be able the group; NS guys, ROD NS guys, unemployed, senior citizens,..., FT & even females.

[johnny333]

Originally Posted by Porfirio Rubirosa

I believe there is a 'male rights' activist (male chauvinist to the feminist) lawyer by the name of Wong who writes into the ST forum every now and then to push local male rights. perhaps he could head this group

The 1st thing on the agenda should be a Male Charter for the protection of the down trodden male

With such a popular agenda you will have many guys clamoring to lead UN-AWARE

Seriously, if the females have organised themselves, males must do like wise or have face an uneven playing field.

[Porfirio Rubirosa]

The Medea strain
Friday, 10 April 2009, 6:13 am | 235 views
The limits of female advancement in the PAP

In patriarchal Greece of yore, two fictional women stood out for having been depicted as particularly charismatic and influential: the crafty Lysistrata, who forced the men to stop their wars by organising a sex-strike by women, and the formidable Medea, who was instrumental in winning for her husband his throne but who destroyed him when he betrays her.

The playwright Aristophanes portrayed Lysistrata as an unusually headstrong but still very feminine character; indeed, Aristophanes revelled in reinforcing stereotypes of the ‘weaker’ sex current during his time and their political involvement is framed within this context. Order is restored when the women – Lysistrata included – are restored to their traditional, submissive role after the war ends. In contrast, the Medea immortalised by the tragedian Euripides is fierce and utterly implacable, one who has – at least according to later-day feminist interpretations of Euripides’ play – thrown off the yoke of her gender’s conventional dependency and deference.

But it is the example of Lysistrata which seems more applicable to Singapore, at least in the context of the political sphere. Professor Kenneth Paul Tan of the National University of Singapore has written an insightful piece about how images of women are constructed and legitimised in the public sphere, using these ideas to explain the “Catherine Lim affair” of 19941. Ms Lim, a renowned Singaporean writer, made waves in 1994 with two commentaries that triggered a particularly forceful response from the country’s leaders.


Professor Tan argued that Singaporean women might have had to “outwardly disavow” their femininity and exhibit manly attributes to be taken seriously and succeed in fields dominated by men, since women are still regarded as being “primarily responsible for reproducing the nation”. One field in particular is politics, where Ms Lim Hwee Hua – who, incidentally, was made Singapore’s first female minister some weeks after Professor Tan’s piece was published – is personified as the kind of female politician the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) recruits because they reaffirm the “desirability of manly attributes” without posing a threat to male dominance.

At the heart of this system stands the chief patriarch, PAP founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who is the personification of the “masculine” state with all its protective attributes. In contrast, the people are portrayed with a “feminine” tinge: they are “selfish, ignorant, deficient and dangerous”, essentially unable to take care of themselves. That narrative reflects Mr Lee’s strong influence on the PAP as well as his own convictions: in a revealing letter to the press, his daughter recounted that her parents’ marriage was anything but an “equal partnership”, with her mother being a high-earning lawyer who coped with the traditional roles of wife and mother while Mr Lee was very much the traditional family patriarch.

According to Professor Tan, Ms Catherine Lim only managed to survive the Singapore establishment’s 1994 onslaught against her by concealing her criticisms with an outward show of feminine deference in “excess”. This made it “ungentlemenly” for the PAP leaders to come down too hard on her.

养精蓄锐,出类拔萃

Professor Tan’s framework helps to explain why women seem to be lagging considerably in Singapore politics. It took more than four decades for Singapore to get its first full female minister, and even then only 18 out of 82 of the current batch of elected MPs are female; prior to this, Singapore had 22 MPs in total during the period 1959-1997. That is a peculiarity that can’t be explained by societal trends alone, since Singapore scores fairly well in closing the gaps in secondary education and the number of professionals as well as senior managers between the sexes according to the 2008 Global Gender Gap ranking by the World Economic Forum. Furthermore, the opposition parties appear to have a better representation of high-ranking women: the chairman of the Worker’s Party (WP) and two members of the Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP) Central Executive Committee are women.

It is therefore likely that adverse selection by the PAP plays a significant part in explaining the lack of women holding public office. Even Ms Lim Hwee Hua, now the leading female politician in the country, seemed to have alluded to it – commenting on her elevation to a ministerial position, Ms Lim told the press that men were “wasting talent” if they did not give women opportunities. Full equality still seems some distance away: even as Singapore gains its first female minister, questions are already being asked about when women will be given substantive portfolios (Ms Lim is currently a minister without portfolio and deputy minister in two other ministries).

The problem with such a policy of adverse selection is that it is difficult to see the PAP inducting women who might be genuine contenders for party leadership. Such female recruits would probably be rejected as potential threats to male dominance, or at least for as long as Mr Lee remains in the party. Presumably that would mean that the leadership would favour Lysistrata-types, who accept the patriarchal hierarchy, over Medea-types who might have little qualms about upsetting it.

Unfortunately, that sets a regrettable example for the rest of society, as it would only reinforce patriarchal notions. It might discourage women from even considering whether to enter politics, as it implies that only those who fit a certain mould will get the chance to serve in public office. It may also diminish the PAP’s own prospects of renewing itself.

Ironically though, it might mean that female opposition figures have a better chance of breaching the PAP’s grip on power. As Professor Tan has argued, the “Catherine Lim” affair showed a potential approach for criticising the government: “in a gently ‘spousal’ way to make a strongly argued point without incurring the state’s full-blown violence”. That already seems to be happening, with WP chairman Sylvia Lim espousing a centrist line in contrast with the more strident efforts of SDP’s Chee Siok Chin. Ms Chee’s unabashed advocacy has landed her in prison on several occasions.

But a more practical reason is that female talent overlooked by the PAP might thereby be inclined to pitch in for the other side. Perhaps it is time for opposition parties to start looking for female candidates who have the Medea strain.

***

1 Kenneth Paul Tan, “Who’s Afraid of Catherine Lim? The State in Patriarchal Singapore”, Asian Studies Review, March 2009, Vol. 33, pp. 43-62

[bellepepper02]

Porfirio Rubirosa,
I don't think that given developments in feminism over the centuries, that we can still typecast feminists according to binaries that prevailed in ancient Greece. I prefer to think of women today as "patriarchal women" vs "feminists". The PAP women are undoubtedly patriarchal women--you have to be in order to be accepted into the party, and you must have internalised their patriarchal values. The 'real' feminists are in the opposition party because today's feminism entails championing the rights of marginalized sections of society (be they male or female) and fighting absolute power. Both Sylvia Lim and Chee Siok Chin are feminists, no matter how different their style or their methods simply because they are in the opposition. PAP too had many women in their ranks in the early days (Remember Jek Yuen Thong's wife, and Mrs Devan Nair, among others?) WHEN it was an opposition party. As it gained dominance, the feminists left because supporting dominant power is not a feminist cause. It then began to attract patriarchal women.

This is why I have never been interested in the issue of female representation in the PAP. If I want to listen to women's voice in Singapore, I look at female participation outside the ruling party, in the opposition parties, in NGOs and civil society, in the arts and in schools and academia, among others.

[scroobal]

Originally Posted by Porfirio Rubirosa

I believe there is a 'male rights' activist (male chauvinist to the feminist) lawyer by the name of Wong who writes into the ST forum every now and then to push local male rights. perhaps he could head this group

That Wong guy has a complex.

[rainnix]

If I'm gay and I really want to join AWARE, and after joining, will they "straighten" me up??? LOL!!! I wanna join AWARE liao!!!

[Airlib]

Aiya... the govt where will scare....
Worse case.. they can just put one of their lady MP/Minister to take over the whole organisation lor. If not still got so 2 more ladies to choose... Ho Ching and LKY's daughter...

[Jesus Christ]

If my Father had meant it to be, Eve would be shitting through her vagina and peeing through her penis!!

Adam? He would just be a dick with one big arsehole!