LIVE from Suntec: AWARE EGM, 2 May 2009

LIVE from Suntec, AWARE EGM

8.25pm: Old guards moving into next phase to file motion of no confidence in the new exco to remove them should they decide not to resign. An election will be held to select the new office holders.

8.20pm: Constance Singam gives the new exco 5 minutes to consider resigning.

8.16pm: Siew Kum Hong: “From Article 9 of Aware Constitution, the members of the general assembly have the right to remove Aware today.”

8.15pm: Legal counsel: “Though the vote of confidence is not legal binding, the new exco should consider resigning. It is only courtesy and common sense to resign after losing in a vote of confidence.”

8.14pm: “You have not lost in the court of law, but in the court of opinion, so please GO!!”

8.12pm: New Aware exco voted out during EGM, but still refuse to resign! Crowd refused and kept chanting: “resign, resign, resign!”

8.11pm: Margaret Thomas asked the new exco to resign graciously which they say they will consider.

8.10pm: The new exco has LOST the mandate and confidence of its members!!

8.05pm: Results are out for resolution no 3: 1414 for yes and 761 for no!! Vote of no confidence passed!!

8.04pm: I just sign up for Aware at 9am today. As a leadership team, I expect you to be familiar with the Constitution, if every single thing you have to refer to the legal counsel who is an outsider, how are you going to lead?

8.02pm: “Would you Ms Josie Lau respect my regime if I just take over your Aware one day like what you did?”

8pm: “Leadership is not by position only, leadership has to earn respect. If you have no prior experience in Aware, how are you going to earn respect? Is there now a basis in the takeover now that COOS has openly said it did not support your actions, wouldn’t it better to step down now?

7.56pm: “I have always followed Aware. Aware is not about gay issues, it is about working for women, it was started in 1986 when there were alot of battered wives. Aware is an intelligent organization who does research on how to improve its work. We cannot help alone, we have to work with the men to help women. Aware is about inclusiveness, to help everybody, male or female, regardless of their sexual orientation. I am always have deep respect of Aware, but never feel the need to join Aware because I trust it in the hands of intelligent women who have put Singapore on the international map, but until recently, I felt I have to join Aware because I was alarmed that Aware should fall into the hands of a group of women which I have absolutely no confidence at all. I listened to how they talked, they can’t even answer my questions in completeness and I asked myself what is going to happen to the good work of Aware to land in a group like this? This is worrying, so I decided to pay $40, line up for 2 hours just for one purpose - to cast my vote of NO CONFIDENCE, and I ask them, after this meeting, how do you carry on? Dr Thio, you said you are a feminist mentor to women in Singapore. With due respect to you, I would not like you to be my mentor.”

7.55pm: We are not here because we are avaricious, we are not here because we are gay or lesbians, we are not here because we are sexual perverts. We are here because we are deeply troubled how this exco came into power and the lack of respect for the values of pluralism, democracy that this new exco has demonstrated. We are here because we believe woman are intelligent and rational enough to make our own choices on how a good life is. We are here to protect the rights and integrity of women everywhere.”

7.50pm: “I am a life member of Aware. I speak as a life member and also a Christian. I observe with alarm how this new excp have gained leadership through ?dirty means though constitutional, how this new exco has displayed its leadership through conflicting accounts of aware and immediate dismissal of staff, a particular narrow Christian interpretation regarding sex education. This exco’s leadership sets a dangerous precedent for Aware, civil society and Singapore society in general, there is total disregard for the process of trust, respect and transparency which others have worked so hard to develop. This exco’s leadship has tarnished the good name of Christianity. It is also a setback to the constructive processes of dialogue between Christians, secularists and other religion which takes time to develop in Singapore, as such, I have no confidence in your leadership to be a good example to Singaporeans.

7.45pm: “I am a teacher and a minority. Does the panel know what it is like to be marginalized? We have to give a voice to the marginalized. I was so disturbed so much so I came up. Aware was formed a quarter of a century ago, so much hsa been done. Do you want your daughter to be treated less of a person because she isn’t sure of her sexuality?”

7.36pm: “You have sent us an email to dissolve the committee. It becomes the actions of the volunteers what they want to do and the exco have not shown interest in the work of the committee. As a member of civil society, we debate openly, we do not shut the doors on anybody. You need to be taught how to debate in a civil society.You have not shown us that when you took over the organization.”

7.35pm: “I think the previous exco is perfectly capable of manning its own Constitution and if we ever flouted it, all it does is for a member to write in to ROS and action will follow suit. It is impossible to understand that what you have been trying to do when from the first day, you are reluctant to tell us and now you said you want to follow what the old committee is doing.”

7.30pm: “1st point to Dr Thio Su Mien, she said in the press that she disagreed with the old aware point that homosexuality is neutral, in Buddhism, heterosexuality = homosexuality. Even HPB says that being a lesbian doesn’t make you less normal. The new exco kept saying that they are legally and constitutionally elected, but as leaders of NGO, you also need respect and trust and from what you see here, the trust is not there, the best option is for the new Aware exco to resign on their own accord. Fine, if you want to go by the Constitution, let us talk about the $90,000 spent!”

7.22pm: “I am a Christian and the Lord asks us to embrace all! As a NGO, we struggled hard to get money. Now $90,000 is gone in an instance. This is SHAMEFUL!!!”

7.20pm: “You have misappropriated funds as far as I see. What’s wrong of reaching out first? You are in a position of power….You wondered why we are so angry, but at the beginning, you are the ones who erased our voices and we are not the ones going around to remove people. We are not causing any physical harm and you are calling your guards to remove us, is this fair? How can I respect you when you are treating me like a child? And you are so rude to us! How can I believe that you are going to campaign for equality for women when you don’t treat us equally.”

7.15pm: “I am a Muslim with 3 daughter. I was a criminal investigator. In the course of my work, I have seen so much fear of women that they are not worthy of men. I support the work done by the old Aware…We need to have evidence, the spirit of inquiry to enable our ladies to make informed choices and because of that, I would be very proud of my daughter to go through the CSE programme. And I have one regret being a father, I regret that my daughters are not here today to witness the spirit of the women at Aware today.”

7.10pm: Clarie Nazar: “I resigned on 30 April 2009. The reason for my resignation is that if you have been more inclusive, I would not have resigned in the first place. I have been excluded from exco meetings and sidelined.”

7.05pm: Braema Mathi: “My reputation is being put on the line and I don’t like it, but I will not follow the examples of leaders and launch defamation lawsuits against you!”

6.55pm: “We have told you that the report is in the process of being prepared, why are you still badgering Braema when she is overseas? When you removed Braema, all of us at CEDAW wrote in a letter of protest, but you didn’t even have the courtesy to give us a reply!”

6.51pm: “We do not have a draft report to give to you because the volunteers are still conducting their research. Braema Mathi is willing to give you a verbal update, but you refuse.”

6.50pm: Braema: “I replied two days later apologizing for the delay and explaining for the delay and asked for a meeting to discuss the CEDAW report.”

6.47pm: “The reason why Braema Mathi is removed because she had not sent us the report in spite of the numerous reminders.”

6.43pm: “As a NGO, money is a big thing! We have to build networks to reach out to everybody. This corporate culture clashes with Aware as a NGO which alot is about consensus, inclusiveness and working for nothing.”

6.41pm: “I feel very sad to come to a woman’s organization where its President asked us to ’shut up and sit down’. Today is the time to speak out, not shut up and sit down, never!” (applause broke out)

6.40pm: Dr Alan Chin: “I am from COOS and I am not ashamed to admit that. I would like to clarify that COOS did not ask its members to come here to promote Christianity. Please be rational, although $90,000 is spent, but we have recouped it by the new membership fees of $120,000.”

6.34pm: “I am a trainer in the CSE. The three words - anal sex, homosexuality and lesbianism are only mentioned in one and a half minute out of 3 hours of the programme of which half is spent on promoting abstinence - how to refuse sex. The material is meant to be private and confidential and for the person to put it online is downright irresponsible.”

6.32pm: “I am a Christian and I have sex in secondary school. I am for a system which enabled people to make informed choices and not to make judgement on others. We need to give that choice.”

6.30pm: Josie quoted some study from Utah that abstinence is important to help reduce sexual activity amongst adolescents much to the chagrin of the audience.

6.26pm: “I would like to clarify about the CSE, if you not aware, 15 years of research showed that CSE is inclusive and appropriate in its teaching of use of condoms and to discuss a wide range of sexual techniques and study have shown that such a programme will delay onset of sexual activity and promote safer sexual activity and behavior leading to decrease in HIV infection rates at later life, so I don’t understand why you are discrediting this programme. As a parent myself, I would like my child to go through this programme. Just discussing a wide range of sexual behavior does not make one a homosexual. Your child won’t come back and say ‘Hey, I want to marry a person of same sex!”

6.25pm: “You have destroyed Aware, an organization with 25 years of proud history. Go and start another organization of your own!”

6.22pm: “The new exco has used such a large sum of money without approval from its members. Can we report it to the Commissioner of Charities?” [legal counsel refused to answer, claimed it is outside his purview]

6.20pm: Constance Singam appealed to the audience to accept the result of the ballot, whichever it turns out, in good spirit.

6.16pm: “I am a legal advisor of the old guard. I would offer legal advice to Aware pro bono. If you have asked for help from the old guards, you would have to be able to obtain free legal advice. Did you ask?

6.15pm: Legal counsel: “Under Article 18 of the Constitution, it is stipulated that the exco is not authoritzed to spend more than $20,000 for purposes of the society without approval of its members via a secret ballot.

6.12pm: “I would like to ask the legal counsel for opinion about the new exco spending $70,000 more that the legal limits set by Aware’s constitution (applause broke out).

6.06pm: “I am an academic in Singapore and I would like to clarify something about feminism. You can cannot speak out for a marginalized group like women without speaking up for all marginalized groups regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation. I have traveled all over the world and everybody I spoke to has high regards for Aware. Today, Aware has an international profile which is respected by human rights activists, please don’t undermine the international credibility of aware by your thoughtless actions.

6.05pm: Results will be out in 10 minutes.

6.02pm: “This is ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING. You have spent $70,000 above the accepted limit!!!”

6.00pm: Josie Lau: “The estimate cost of the legal counsel is NINTY THOUSAND or $90,000!!!” (no joke, you are not hearing wrongly.

5.55pm: ”I understand that a legal counsel cost ten of thousands. Please give me an estimate on how much Aware has spent on the legal counsel even if you cannot give me an accurate figure.

5.51pm: “It is very bizzare to say that just because we propose allowing associate male members to vote, we are promoting homosexuality. This shows you are not ready to lead the organization at all.”

5.50pm: Josie said she will send lesbians who are discriminated for counselling. Somebody from the crowd shouted: “but we don’t trust you!!”

5.45pm: “I am gay and I am concerned about the new exco saying homosexuality is not okay. I feel terribly insulted. Please do not impose your values on everybody. Sorry, this is not personal.”

5.40pm: I am Chiang, an event organizer. I am surprised you spent so much money on the event. Renting a place at $18,000 and paying for an event organizer should not have happened. You should be asking around for people to help, to ask for somebody to offer a free stage, if you have called me, I would have organized it for free. I am SHOCKED, I don’t know where my $40 is going. If, IF you survive this no-confidence vote, please put a lawyer on the exco and you won’t need a legal counsel, every single cent should go to the people you wanted to help!!

5.36pm: What is your stance on the male chapter of men? I am very worried about that.

5.31pm: Josie explained that the costs are being compounded and urged the audience to be patient. She pleaded for understanding that the new exco has very little time to handle the matter.

5.30pm: I Jin, the assistant treasurer claimed she has not been consulted on all maters proper by the new exco.

5.26pm: Josie explained that she has to outsource the event organizing to the Boardroom due to the short notice the EGM was called.

5.25pm: “To Josie, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I emailed you asking to meet so that we can work out the organization of the EGM together, but you are reluctant to do so.”

5.22pm: “The point is not whether you have spent over the $20,000. The point is you need to seek the members’ approval. You are NOT ABOVE THE LAW, you cannot change the Constitution to serve your own personal purpose.

5.21pm: Josie: “tell me how you will handle this situation.”

5.20pm: “I am a practising lawyer and you have breached ?ultra vibes the constitution by spending over the limit! The maximum amount you are allowed to spend is $20,000 and anything above, we the members reserve the legal right to…”

5.17pm: Questioner pressed on why new exco spent more than $20,000. Maureen explained that she had no choice as the membership has exceeded 3,000 this week and she has to get Hall 403 as well which cost $5,000. (crowd booed).

5.16pm:Maureen revealed that the Suntec venue cost $18,000, so the new exco has most likely over-spent the $20,000 limit.

5.15pm: Maureen Goh explained that Singapore EXPO venue was cancelled because police is concerned about law and order issues.

5.10pm: Josie Lau refused to answer the question directly, asked lady to sit down as she has asked more than 1 question, lady refused to go away, Josie asked security to “escort” her off.

5.07pm: Question asked about Aware’s spending. Under Aware’s constitution, Aware only allowed to spend no more than $20,000 a month.

5.05pm: Question raised about why new exco asked Constance Singam to leave the meeting. Josie replied that she was asked to leave because “sensitive issues” are being discussed.

5.01pm: Josie explained that Shultz Lee was sacked for insubordination and that the interim manager was recruited from COOS because she was immediately available.

4.55pm: Josie claimed she was given no opportunity to explain herself to members and was “played out” by the media.

4.51pm: Josie explained that she did not know Sally, Jenica or Maureen before the Aware AGM. She reiterated that she was invited by Claire Nazar to join Aware to help out in the marketing.

4.50pm: The crowd is fielding questions at the new exco who kept pleading to give them a right of reply.

4.45pm: New exco referred to legal counsel again if constitutional amendments should proceed.

4.40pm: Legal counsel asked for show of hand who oppose continuing the debate on the constitutional amendments. The majority of the crowd raise up their hands.

4.35pm: New members protest against the constitutional amendments as many have not read it here. One proposed it to be postponed to the next AGM.

4.32pm: Thio Su Mien? called the crowd hooligans. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”

4.31pm: Josie Lau wants to go through the constitutional amendments, somebody from the crowd asked her to step down till the vote count is completed as she may not be the President anymore.

4.15pm: Voting now in process.

4.11pm: Siew Kum Hong speaking. I ask the legal counsel what the legal option should be to monitor the voting process.

4.10pm: The voting begins. Ballot boxes are being passed around.

4.07pm: Thio Su Mien forced to stop her speech. Crowd kept chanting - “We are Aware! We are Aware! We are Aware!!”

4.01pm: Thio Su Mien going to speak, crowd BOOED!!! “I believe I am a feminist mentor because…, please show some civility” (crowd kept interrupting). “Listen to me, I was….you have NO RESPECT FOR THE ELDERS” (BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!) “I was the first female law dean..”

4.00pm: Thio Su Mien asked audience to show respect for elders!

3.55pm: I join AWARE only 3 weeks ago and I support a vote of vote against the new exco. For those of you sitting out there supporting the new exco, they are all of the same race, the same faith and worship in the same place.

3.46pm: Constance Singam speaking. You have to trust and honor the achievements of the old guards over the last few years. Where were you when women are abused and battered in their homes? Where were you when women are denied equal medical benefits? Where were you??? Crowd chanted “Where were you??”

3.45pm: I am Irene Ng, a Christian and I do not support the new exco.

3.45pm: I am a new member and I would like to highlight to you that you have not heard from the new members because the mikes are off. If you know the Singapore pledge…to build a democratic society built on justic and equality..where is the equality when you deliberately left out exco members from the old guards from your meeting, one more point, congratulations on the increase in your membership, but it is not because of you guys, but because of the old guards of aware who built it up all these years. I would remain as a member if the old guards returned (crowd went into frenzy).

3.41pm: Josie Lau invited legal counsel yet again to explain about the sacking of the subcommittees.

3.40pm: Braema Mathi speaking. I struggle over what is your (Josie) character….,but today is even more disappointing. We have written to the members of the exco, can we have a civil discussion on how to run this meeting and today we are being treated like children (crowd stand up and wave!!!) On that alone, 1 100% convinced that you are not the right representative for this association.

3.35pm: Dana Lam speaking. She said Josie’s actions and words during the last 2 weeks have shown she is not a suitable leader for Aware, crowd burst into applause. Dana castigates Josie for dismissing long-serving staff and volunteers of AWARE and paid for sophisticated CCTV for the center for a woman center which is meant to be a safe place for women. This act of yours alone shows that you are in the wrong seat for our association (crowd erupted into applause). I propose now…I support the vote of non-confidence.

3.30pm: Voting going to commence soon, instructions being given to members.

3.25pm: Haji Mohamad, a practising lawyer stands up to rebut legal counsel’s opinion that no-confidence motion has no legal binding under the Aware constitution.

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