Voted out but still willing to contribute

Voted out but still willing to contribute

Sunday, 3 May 2009

By Terence Lee

DESPITE the controversy that has erupted, Ms Josie Lau and her team would still contribute their expertise to AWARE if asked.

Speaking at a press conference after their resignation from the women’s organisation, the team said that their original purposes for joining AWARE has not changed.

Josie explained that she was initially asked to join the organisation because of her marketing and fundraising expertise, and she hopes to continue doing that.

Currently, the team has no future plans. They were non-commital when quizzed about whether they would set up their own organisation promoting their own beliefs and values.

“We’ve yet to sit down over coffee and discuss our future plans,” said Honorary Treasurer Maureen Ong.

Despite the strong opposition to their leadership, the team stands firm in their beliefs. They believe they have the constitutional right to stay in the organisation, but the only reason they stepped down was really “for the sake of AWARE.”

“When I joined,” said Ms Ong, “I was simply only answering Constance Singam’s call for new blood.”

She could not understand what caused this reversal in AWARE’s attitude.

The team once again reiterated that there was no ulterior motive for them joining AWARE, said Ms Lau. There was no conspiracy, and in fact she does not know any of the Committee members except for a few of them, but even those were passing acquantances.

“I did not come in knowing who would run with me,” said Ms Lau. In fact, she revealed that there were quite a lot of minority people that stood up for elections at the AGM, but they were not voted in.

The team also criticised the discrimination against people with “pro-family” views, citing the just-concluded meeting as an example.

When asked about whether they expected such a reaction from the crowd, the team said that they “expected it” because of the negative reaction and attention it has already spawned in the past month.

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