Hi all,
I had promised to give an
update on the AWARE EOGM that I attended yesterday. I was there at
12.10pm and managed to get in at 1pm and sat there till the meeting
closed at 9.20pm. I won't bore you too much as all can be read on
ST and seen on Razor TV. But I will just summarise the general
atmosphere and highlight some interesting incidents and express my
opeinion.
Please note that since the "new
exco" is not longer the exco, it will be referred to as the
"ex-new-exco" haha.
I think the Josie Lau and
company started the meeting on a really bad
footing. IUnderstandably they were very tensed, but they also
used strong arm tactics and too early in the meeting - that did not
go well with old guard supporters and set the tone of the meeting
already even before it started. I quote some examples:
1) Before she opened the
meeting, Josie demanded on her mike from the stage that Mr Siew sit
at the side reserved for men and foreigners and not with the women.
However, the old guards argued that he is their legal counsel and
should sit with them - afterall, the ex-new-exo's legal counsel
sits with them. Later someone also revealed over the mike that
during the last AGM when Josie Lau and cmpy seized power, her own
husband sat with the women. At the beginning of the meeting, the
ex-new exco kept asking security to escort people out and used this
threat often. But later, when they realize their threats will not
work, they stopped issuing these orders. But already the crowd was
very unhappy.
2) And then the mike for the
audience was turned off when Josie Lau wanted to make her
president's address. The members were upset and keep calling for
the mike to be on as it is the normal procedure for any meeting.
Ex-new-exco asked their lawyer who actually confirmed that the old
guards are right so the mikes were turned on after a long tussle.
But many times the mike for the audience were again turned down so
everyone got even more angry.
3) Even at the
early parts of the meeting, Sally Ng from the ex-new-exco screamed
at one of the old guard members "Shut Up and Sit Down!" I know it
was a tense situation but her words were reflective of the hard
stance the exco has taken so far and treating adults like children
- it did not go down well with the members and she was booed.
To be fair to Josie, she apologised immdiately for Sally's
outburst. When Jenica Chua asked Sally to apologise to reduce
tension, she said (overheard as her mike was still on) " why should
I apologise" but eventually did so. Later someone told her off
and said this is the time for us to "Stand up and speak
up"
And of course Dr Thio the
feminst mentor was booed and jeered throughout. Funny thing was she
is not even on exco but while everyone had to queue up to speak
(some more than an hour), she gets the mike whenever she wants.
Unfair lor. But I think she treated all of us like children
scolding us and telling us to "respect your elders (her)". Someone
later shouted at her and said "Respect has to be earned".
Personally, I wonder why for a former law dean, an intellectual, a
high flying lawyer and respected member of her church community,
behaves like this. She acts like she is a granny to all of us and
treats adults like children and with so little respect.
Overall, it is true the
supporters of the old guard are pretty rowdy at times but one must
understand that many of the supporters do not even know the old
guard leaders personally but came to support due to their own
convictions and was not rallied by the old guard to be so rowdy.
There were many reminders sent out to ask supporters to behave with
dignity and to accept the outcome no matter what. Leaders that day
also keep trying to calm the crowd and I think they did a good job
overall.
I know many supporters of Josie
Lau/Dr Thio and cmpny feel that everyone was so rude and did not
give them a chance to talk. While it is true that sometimes there
were a lot of jeering, I personally feel that many times the
ex-new-exco did not give credible responses to questions and Dr
Thio behaved poorly to the audience.
But I must say at the later
half of the meeting, the exco kind of got resigned to things, they
stopped asking people to be escorted out, they stopped their strong
arm tactics.
I feel that overall Josie Lau
did carry her self well and even smiled when jokes were cracked –
despite the trying situation. Although I disagree with her stand
and how they came into power, I must still say she was the most
courageous of the lot as she was President and was more targeted
than the rest of the exco. She was very quick to
apologise for Sally Ng’s outburst and that was the right thing to
do.
Sometimes, I even feel a bit
sorry for her because really, the puppeteer was not her. It was Dr
Thio.
That Thio woman should have her doctorate revoked. Whatever
organisation who hired her should sack her. Who the hell does she
think she is. So what if she is related to the ruling party. She
brings shame to the 2 million plus women in Singapore.
