The Aware Conspiracy - facts

The Aware Conspiracy - facts

I have been following the Aware saga from the newspapers and it’s been a very entertaining drama (a la Hong Kong TVBS serial drama storylines) so far. However I see many people just been drawn into making a stand (either for or against the ‘new guard’) with totally irrational and biased standpoints. It seems that many people are rooting for or against the ‘new guard’ simply based on one criteria - ‘pro-gay’ or ‘anti-gay’.

From a totally non-biased (I’m not gay, not pro nor anti gay, not pro Christian nor anti Christian, no vested interests of any sort) point of view, I think it is quite clear which side is wrong. Allow me to summarize the facts briefly. I don’t intend this to be a comprehensive coverage of what happened so far, just what I observed.

1. The Aware new guard claimed they were not ‘anti-gay’, but they are, coincidentally, linked to a church that has strong views against homosexuality. Further, in some of their church emails which are circulating on the Internet, staff and members of the church referred to the Aware ‘old guard’ as ‘pro-gay’.

2. Ms Thio, the self-proclaimed ‘feminist mentor’ of the new Aware exco, claimed that she had been a supporter of Aware in its early days but the founding members did not remember her at all. Further, in emails circulating on the Internet, Ms Thio’s email to gather support for the now infamous AGM did not mention much (if anything at all) about feminism. Nor did any other of those emails the church members and staff sent say anything about feminism. It seemed to be all about furthering their own hidden agenda of forcing their anti-gay views through using Aware, a secular organization, as a vehicle. Further, why the secrecy, if they were not having a hidden agenda? In one of those emails, Ms Thio mentioned that her identity could not be exposed, and asked those who wanted to join Aware to write nothing on the portion of the Aware membership application form that asked who referred them to Aware.

2. The new guard claimed that they were not bringing religion into Aware, but it emerged later that it was quite clear that they had a religious agenda, and that, worse still, they were trying to hide this agenda by denying it. My opinion is that by taking over a secular women’s organization, they are showing a blatant disrespect for the existence of other religions in Singapore… trying to impose their religious beliefs onto others forcefully. See below for excerpts of those emails:


“Right now we should pray for the COOS members who are being put through scrutiny and invasion of their private lives by the media. Pray that God’s Word will prevail over the values of the world. Homosexuality isn’t God’s design and we pray that those who stand up against it and are discriminated will be delivered. Praise God for COOS’ stand and He who aids us as we stand firmly upon His Word.”

“The pro-gay old guards are retaliating by calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting where they intend to amend the Constitution to only allow members who have been with AWARE for more than 2 years, to vote. If this change is passed, then only the pro-gay old guards and their cohorts will have the power to do what they want.”

“Right now we should pray for the COOS members who are being put through scrutiny and invasion of their private lives by the media. Pray that God’s Word will prevail over the values of the world. Homosexuality isn’t God’s design and we pray that those who stand up against it and are discriminated will be delivered.”

“From: smthio@xxxxxxx.sg

..Please ask your like-minded friends to join Aware so that you can give the vote to those who wish to be an agent of change for the Lord. They could also contribute to the activities of the oprganization as there is much to be done for women and families in this dowturn of the economy. Unfortunately, I cannot surface but shall be assisting in the background . I attach the Aware membership application form for your use. The Aware application form has a section as to who ( if any) told you about Aware. You can just leave it blank .”

3. The new guard exhibited classical signs of consumer behavior - they seemed to be looking for confirming information about the old guard so as to ‘prove their point’ that the latter were advocating ‘pro-gay’ lifestyles, and painted a ‘pro-family’ picture of themselves (and thus justifying their ‘anti-gay’ stance) so as to justify their coup. This was evident from the fact that they only highlighted the more ‘pro-gay’ activities that the old guard held, which might have only comprised of a small percentage of all the activities Aware organized. Further, they seemed to have ignored the disconfirming information… they highlighted that ex-leader Constance Singam attended a gay event last year… but omitted the fact that she had been unwilling to do so previously for fear of being seen as advocating homosexuality…

4. Of course, the new guard, upon knowing that an EOGM would be held next week to bring them down, naturally wanted to protect their positions by garnering more voters on their side… and in the meantime they served themselves another blow with the email asking church members and friends to support their fellow members in the new guard (thereby admitting that Aware is now controlled by the church).

5. Guess whose side the Government is on? The Government has repeatedly said that they would not intervene in this saga. Kind of a dilemma for the Govt, which made clear it’s stance not to legalize homosexualism some time ago. Makes sense, since the Govt would not want to be seen as supporting one religion in a multi-religion society like Singapore. On the other hand, they don’t want to contradict themselves by appearing to support the pro-gay community. But subtle comments were made by various ministers… about how religious organizations should not make use of secular ones to forward their agendas… and now MOE is jumping into the fray by defending the talks on sexuality delivered by the old Aware, which was criticized by the new guard as promoting homosexuality.

Interesting to see how grown-ups with children can be so immatured in fighting over differences in opinions like that. This episode shows that 1. senior executives and professionals can be very childish too 2. better not offend women… as they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned =) 3. Singapore is confirmed to be VERY far from being an inclusive society at this point.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens as we move towards the EOGM next week… meanwhile, I am enjoying the dramatic twists and turns in this classic TVBS style catfight on my copy of the Straits Times, over a nice cuppa every morning.

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