The brouhaha wasn’t all bad, they
say, as the women of Aware pick up the pieces and chart a new
course.
Unless you’ve been on Mars the
past couple of months, the mere mention of Aware brings a flashback
of angry faces, angrier accusations, and images of the dramatic
Suntec showdown where the “old guard” ousted the “new guard” and
reclaimed the leadership of Singapore’s most active women’s group.
In the run up to that fateful meeting, membership swelled and
everyone from ministers to Ministers weighed in—the very soul of
the organization seemed to hang in the balance.
Now that Aware has disappeared from the headlines and its
original intent seems secure, how is the Association of Women for
Action and Research moving on from this debilitating and divisive
episode? Certainly, the organization has more talent and momentum
than ever before—and an unrivalled platform to push its
causes. But it also has something of an image problem, with
many people who were previously unaware of Aware forming
perceptions based on the hardened tactics of
battle.
Aware’s once more-again new president, Dana Lam, and her newly
elected Executive Committee are picking up the pieces and working
to get the organization on its feet as quickly as
possible.
“The first task will be to get our house in order,” says Lam. “We
need to review our internal processes and strengthen our systems.
The new Executive Committee has only been in office for a month,
and during that time, we’ve had to soothe our center staff who have
been frazzled by the events of the past few weeks and also touch
base with our sponsors, to reassure them that we’ve got our act
together.”
Lam is already on her toes to ensure that the new volunteers
who’ve recently joined Aware are properly managed. “I’m quite
anxious; the younger folks have shorter attention spans and are
always readily enthusiastic to get things going quickly,” she says.
“They can come to you once, twice and three times offering their
help, but it takes time to respond and fit them in; if you don’t
get back to them swiftly, you’ll lose them.”
The newly expanded database of over 3,000 members is one
success of the May 2 Extraordinary General Meeting (EOGM) that Lam
is keen to count on and to work with. “The EOGM was an immensely
rewarding experience,” says Lam. “Many new members may have already
gotten used to the fix of instant results; but it’s much slower
when it comes to seeing the fruits of our labor on the issues we
work on.
“Some of that excitement will disappear; we will lose some
members as we move along, because reality gets in the way, and they
will go back to their old lives and jobs.”
Finances and
Fundraising
From an operational standpoint, the provision of new programs and
services in the coming months will be reliant on what funds are
left in the organization. After all, it was well-documented that
the “new guard” Exco spent $90,000 in the one month they were in
office.
Aware’s new honorary treasurer, Tan Joo Hymn, is working flat
out to ensure that there will be no repeat of financial excesses
from here on. “By year end, we have to ensure that there is a
comprehensive set of policies and guidelines in place for good
financial management; one that is clearly communicated to all staff
and volunteers,” says Tan.
Aware’s overnight membership growth spurt doesn’t
automatically equate to more finances available for more
programs.
“Contrary to the comments made by one supporter of the ousted
Exco, increased membership will not recoup the $90,000,” claims
Tan. “But rest assured, we won’t be trimming budgets; we’d instead
like to raise more money to continue with our
programs.”
Meanwhile, Lam says that she expects operating costs to rise
on account of the increase in new members.
“Aware has to raise funds every month,” says Lam. “After
doing our sums, we know that we have to raise $20,000 to cover our
operating costs.”
Among its fund-raising initiatives, Aware teamed up with
Wessex Theatre’s production of Top Girls at the DBS Arts Centre, boosting its coffers with
charity ticket sales. Another high-profile fund-raising drive is
Flag Day in August.
“Not only must we ensure that there are sufficient checks and
balances in place for large expenditures, we are also hounding our
fundraising sub-committee to ensure there is enough money for the
next year,” says treasurer Tan.
Not Entirely a Bad
Thing
Although the Executive Committee is currently in overdrive
rebuilding the organization, Lam does not view the infamous saga in
an entirely negative light, stating that it has given the group the
opportunity to reaffirm its values and highlight the core reasons
for its existence. The group’s mission, core values and agenda were
well communicated in the “We Are Aware” campaign, which the present
Executive Committee members mounted during the lead-up to the
EOGM.
“We now have this huge base of volunteers to call upon,” says
Lam. “A lot of the new members have already started helping. One of
our objectives is to make full use of new media, and members and
volunteers have come forward to help with that.”
These members, who had signed up to defend a well-respected
secular gender-equality advocacy group, bring with them a whole set
of skills, from legal expertise, to administrative and
organizational capabilities, to database systems know-how and even
first-aid skills.
“Once we get ourselves more effectively organized, we would
no longer have to engage people for IT and database services,” says
Lam. “Likewise for legal matters, as we have a good number of
lawyers who have come on board.”
And these new volunteers will be channeled into the three
main areas Aware focuses on, namely the direct services which
provide emotional and psychological support through the Helpline,
counseling and legal aid; the betterment of physical and economic
well-being of women, such as sexuality education, self-defense,
body image and self-esteem programs, and financial intelligence
workshops; and intellectual development, where research is
conducted in workshops and forums on areas such as work-life
balance and sexual harassment.
Lam says the group will continue to expand and develop the
above three areas, and will have a line-up of new initiatives in
the coming months. “We have not yet gone to the public with our new
programs, as we have only just started plotting the direction we
want to go,” says Lam.
Braema Mathi, an ex-president of Aware, a former Nominated
Member of Parliament and prominent civil society activist, agrees
that some good has come out of this saga.
“Without the blind self-righteousness of the old Executive
Committee, we would not have seen that beautiful day of May 2 when
so many women stood up to speak, ask and assert what they will not
put up with—it was a beautiful moment of women coming into their
own,” Mathi says.
Soul
Searching
But there is no escaping the fact that the whole saga has made
Aware sit up and re-look at the way it has run itself for the last
24 years. It also has to deal with the dilution of its image in the
eyes of the public. While many people rose to defend the
organization during the difficult period, questions surrounding its
motives and agendas continue to dog Aware.
“We’ve been hurt by harmful misrepresentations of a perceived
‘agenda’ by people who appear to have their own,” says
Vice-President Chew I-Jin. “These people find feminism and its
advancements in sexual politics a threat to the belief structures
that they cling to.”
Lam meanwhile reaffirms that she has no regrets about taking
a neutral view on homosexuality. “I will never apologize for saying
that I take a neutral view to homosexuality,” she says. “I’m not
for it or against it; for those who need a reminder, that’s what
neutral means.”
She, however, said that she baulked when she saw an
Aware-issued instructor guide for the Ministry of Education’s (MOE)
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program which said that
anal sex could be neutral or healthy if a condom is
used.
“I was shocked to see such a thing in the booklet,” says Lam.
“I don’t condone such views. But one has to realize the following:
That line was in an instructor’s manual that was strictly
confidential. It was not in any student manual. The previous
Executive Committee took it out of context and posted it online in
a deliberate smear campaign against us.”
The statement created such a ruckus that the MOE went from
saying that there were no complaints about Aware’s CSE program from
students, teachers and parents, to kicking it out of the program
altogether.
“That’s an example of how we need to strengthen our systems,”
says Lam. “From now on, when we put out such guides, we need to
conduct an internal review process that asks committee members
whether they have any objections to the proposed texts
within.”
Lam adds that Aware will review its CSE package and offer it
at a later date to the MOE, which now has a more stringent policy
on the outsourcing of schools’ sex-education to external
vendors.
The checks-and-balances approach will be mainstay of the
organization as it proceeds from this juncture. Lam has also
hinted, but not yet confirmed, that there will be a change to
Aware’s constitution to ensure there’s no repeat of a “back door”
takeover.
Among the proposed amendments are rules that could
require members to volunteer with the group for a year before
they can be elected to executive office.
Also, as the group continues to soul search in the aftermath
of the saga, ex-president Mathi weighs in wistfully with the
thought that all the brouhaha could have been avoided if the “other
party” had engaged the-then Executive Committee
consultatively.
“I am still affected that we went through all this for just
one purpose—to ‘expose’ us as allegedly having a gay agenda and for
sexuality education programs that seem to be problematic,” she
says. “If one were that upset by our work, it could have been so
easily settled by meeting the Aware Exco as a group of citizens who
could raise their concerns—face-to-face, in a petition, in the
forum pages… It did not need a takeover to ‘correct’ our ‘bad’
ways. It was the worst form of disrespect shown to an organization
that has done more good work than bad. That still
rankles.”
Misconceptions
But the misconceptions remain; there are still large swathes of
people who now view Aware in a dubious light, suspicious of its
motives and agendas.
“People now view us as having a homosexual agenda,” says
executive member Nicole Tan. “The saga has set the organization
back and we are being marginalized. But Singaporeans are pragmatic.
At the end of the day, if we doggedly continue to deliver on our
myriad of programs, public opinion will eventually be
swayed.”
Another executive member, Hafizah Osman, counters the
allegation that Aware is against Singaporean values. “Aware
promotes gender equality, non-discrimination and non-violence
against women,” she says. “How are these against Singapore’s
societal values? Having said that, as an advocacy group and agent
for change, we understand that the nature of our work can put us
seemingly ‘out of step’ with the rest of society.
“While we remain sensitive to divergent views, the nature of
our organization is that we push the boundaries every so
often.”
Onward
with its Aims
While the factions battled out their standing over the past few
weeks, Singaporean women continue to face issues where pat answers
can’t be easily found—ranging from concerns for elderly women, to
spousal abuse, teenage delinquencies, and sexual harassment in the
work place.
President Lam says that the group has not deviated from its
main agenda since day one.
“The agenda has always been to develop a gender-based equality—to
create opportunities for women, to strengthen women so that they
can participate fully in society,” she says.
Vice-President Chew meanwhile notes the following issues. “We
need to help women to lead a balanced life without having to
exploit another sector of women [foreign maids],” she says.
“Another issue women face is how to go about avoiding the
consumerist trap, which makes you feel like you have to keep up
with the material aspirations of other Singaporeans. Another
important issue is striving to have a positive body-image—everyone
is so obsessed with their weight and appearance.”
Hafizah says that, perhaps the most important thing is to
publicize the programs Aware has to offer—for example, the Helpline
services. “It is important that women in distress, regardless race
or religion, have access to the services they need,” she
says.
Mathi believes that Aware is equipped to deal with the
challenges faced by women in Singapore. “Aware remains, till today,
the strongest advocate on women’s issues,” she says. “That
constancy has to be admired, as it is managed on sheer volunteer
will.”
Over the next few weeks, Aware will firm up its programs for
the coming year, review its standard operating procedures and
continue with its work of making Singapore a gender-equal society.
The saga has unleashed a huge torrent of goodwill toward Aware, and
the ultimate question is whether the newly reinstated leaders can
harness that momentum, navigate the tricky waters of public
perception, institute closer management of Aware’s process and
policy, and use the organization’s newfound fame to further women’s
causes like never before. If so, the women of Singapore may be the
ultimate winners from the episode, which is what everyone—old guard
and new—said they wanted in the first place.
The
saga
Mar 28--—At the annual general meeting, nine newcomers
were voted onto the Executive Committee (Exco), shocking Aware’s
veterans.
Apr
8—President Claire
Nazar resigns. Speculation increases as to the goings-on of Aware’s
new Exco and their motivations.
Apr 14—One hundred and sixty members call for an
Extraordinary General Meeting (EOGM) with the intention of moving a
motion of no confidence in the newly elected
Exco.
Apr
15—Josie Lau is
elected president, while her employer, DBS Bank, publicly
admonishes her decision to seek the
office.
Apr
23—The Exco calls a
press conference, introducing Dr Thio Su Mien, who titles herself a
“Feminist Mentor” and reveals the conservative Christian stance
that the new Exco brings to the
organization.
May
2—EOGM at Suntec
City, where the vote of no confidence is passed by an almost
two-to-one margin. The Exco resigns, Dana Lam is elected new
president along with a new Exco.
View from the Other
Side
They have limited say within a woman’s organization, so what
prompted these two men to join Aware in the run-up to the May 2
EOGM?
Name:
Callan
Tham
Age: 31
Occupation: IT Networking
As a man, how would you help with gender equality
in Singapore going forward?
One of the best ways I can help is promoting awareness of the
issues among my friends and contacts, and by encouraging
open-minded debate and discussion on them. Both men and women must
be involved if true gender equality is to be achieved, and without
a good understanding of the issues involved, no one can make any
informed decisions at all.
As a new member, how do you intend to
help?
In whatever way I can; my experience is in the IT networking field,
and if they can make use of that experience, I will be more than
willing to pitch in.
Name:
Farid Hamid
Age:
45
Occupation: Diversity Consultant and
Trainer
As a man,
what do you bring to the organization?
I feel the issues being addressed by Aware, although it concerns
the development, and welfare of women in our society, can only be
effectively addressed if both men and women, boys and girls, are
included in the processes and
platforms
As a
new member, how do you intend to help?
During the EOGM, I volunteered as a First-Aider, just in case some
assistance in this area was needed. In fact, I responded to a case
of breathlessness—due to an asthmatic condition.
I have also volunteered to assist in the design, planning,
organization and facilitation of the “New Members” Forum in
June.
What Now for
Aware?
These students weigh in.
I think it needs to review its
organizational structure, policy and goals. It has to be strong
internally before it can carry out effective external
work.—Ash Teo, 20,
Communication Studies, NTU
Work to live up to the confidence
and trust placed in it by the new
members.
—Teo
Yong Ernn, 21, Communications and New Media (Arts and Social
Sciences), NUS
They should be trying to replace
as much of the money wasted by the ousted Exco and restoring their
reputation.—Tay Hui
Min, 21, English Literature (Arts and Social Sciences),
NUS
Addressing gender equality; men
are still “supposed” to send the ladies home, men are still
“supposed” to pay the bills. Not that I am totally against it, but
it is just not equal.—Keith Tan, 24, Computing,
NUS
By Ramesh William.
Photography by Joakim Smidhagen