Motion to remove new AWARE exco from office and elect new president has been passed. Ms Josie Lau and her exco have stepped down. Former President Dana Lam has been elected President.

THE RESULTS

3(a) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because it has not acted or is acting in the best interest of the society.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1411   Number of Votes AGAINST = 761

3(b) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because they do not appreciate or share the values of the society.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1412   Number of Votes AGAINST = 762

3(c) The Exco has lost mandate/confidence of the members of the Society because they does not have requisite experience of carrying out the society’s work or is otherwise inadequate to further the society’s objectives.

Number of Votes IN FAVOUR = 1419   Number of Votes AGAINST = 755

THE NEWLY ELECTED EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (ON 2 MAY 2009)

President………………………….Dana Lam

Vice President……………………Chew I-Jin

Honorary Secretary……………..Yap Ching Wi

Assisitant Honorary Secretary….Corinna Lim

Honorary Treasurer……………..Tan Joo Hymn

Assistant Honorary Treasurer…..Lim Seow Yuin

Committee Member……………..Margaret Thomas

Committee Member……………..Hafizah Osman

Committee Member……………..Nancy Griffiths

Committee Member……………..Nicole Tan

Committee Member……………..Joanna D’ Cruz

Committee Member……………..Martha Lee

1. Open letter by Tan Joo Hymn (past president and new Honorary Treasurer): The euphoria and the reality (3 May, 2:49a.m.)

We barely planned for Plan A. Honestly, we rehearsed and went through Plans B to Z, but barely spent time on Plan A. And then we won. Civil society won. It was almost beyond our imagination, especially by such a large margin of 2 to 1. One thousand four hundred votes in favour of Old AWARE!

Perhaps the statement from the National Council of Churches and the apology from Pastor Derek Hong ensured that bus loads did not arrive. With 4 Ministers and 3 Ministers of State speaking out on this issue, the writing was on the wall I suppose.

Amidst the euphoria, one thing troubled me. The men who spoke (the non-supporters of We-Are-Aware). A few were obviously from “their” camp, and a few were unknowns. They talked about such frivolous and irrelevant things, when a long queue of people were waiting patiently to make their point. Their remarks showed that they thought so little of women and women’s issues, trivialising the whole meeting even. Patronising and condescending.

That is why AWARE still has so much work to do.

On the flip side, oh, the women who spoke up. It appeared that many had not spoken in front of an audience, much less one this big. But they spoke with such conviction, such passion. It has been said that some fear public speaking more than death. Well, these women did it, to a crowd of over two thousand. Fueled solely by their sense of justice and conviction.

To paraphrase what Lotte said, we shouted and jeered and clapped because we are passionate, passionate about the issues, passionate about AWARE. Do you see passion in the faces of the new (well, now ex) Exco members?

The energy, the passion, and conviction of every person in that audience. People who left children and elderly at home, who sacrificed time away from work or their precious Saturday. Civil society really won big time today.

So perhaps we have to thank Josie and her gang, and their “Feminist Mentos” after all… They have galvanised previously apathetic people to turn out in force, brought long-time but lapsed members back into AWARE, so many passionate intelligent courageous new members to AWARE and ensured that truly, everybody in Singapore must now be aware of AWARE! And highlighted the potential fault lines in our multi-religious multi-ethnic society.

After the euphoria, we face reality today, and I confess I’m not looking forward to it. The big clean-up that we have to do, after just one month. The damage that some people can wreak in such a short time.

For now, For all women, trust, choice and respect. And sleep.

2. Open letter by Tania Chew: I will NOT sit down & shut up (3 Mar, 3:14a.m.)

I’m privileged to have lived, breathed, whooped and hollered during a landmark piece of Singapore history and I’ve never felt prouder of my country and the people — both men and women from all walks of life — who stood up for the greater good than today. Yes, the AWARE EGM.

- Pride in the people who gave up a whole Saturday to show up and stand in line for ages to get in.

- Pride in those who willingly agreed to be interviewed on video.

- Pride in the passion, intelligence and eloquence in the people who stood up at the EGM and spoke up for what’s right (and I especially remember the Malay Muslim ex-law enforcement father of 3 teenage daughters).

- Pride in the decency that was shown despite the adversity.

- Pride in the media and our lawyers…and so much more.

Hours later I’m still buzzing from the events of the day…some infuriating, some funny…but the one thing that stands out is the solidarity and fervor that I saw in the majority who were fighting to preserve and further the mission and work of AWARE as an inclusive and secular organization.

I went in today hopeful but a little bit nervous, not knowing if it was going to turn into a bloodbath, but I came out of it high on the happiest vibe ever. It was obvious to me that supporters of the old guard knew exactly what they were there for and knew exactly what they wanted to say, backed by a passion that you don’t often see here in SG. And they were FAIR. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about the almost clown-like “speeches” of the new guard supporters, who showed up in bus-loads, didn’t have anything useful to contribute and started leaving after casting their vote.

But I will not dwell on that. Everything’s out in the news and online for the world to see (yes, our manic Twittering made #awaresg a top-trending topic for the day).

This is not a war so I won’t call the majority no-confidence vote a victory. I prefer to see it instead as a milestone marker that will hopefully be the start of much bigger and better things to come for AWARE.

To everyone who recently joined as a member (myself included), don’t let your passion end today because what lies ahead is when it really counts and starts to make a difference. Tell your friends about AWARE, volunteer your time and continue to do what you started doing when you showed up at SUNTEC.

Yes, the old guard has done a great job so far. Imagine how much more we can achieve if we all contribute.

I’d like to end with my fav funny quotes from today’s EGM:

- “Sit down and shut up”

- “I’m on page 73…show your elders some respect”

- “We’ll refer to legal counsel…”

- “I’m a man, don’t harass me”

- “Women are emotional and irrational”

- “I’d like to say to the CONGREGATION…”

- “We’ll help transsexuals according to what’s stated on their IC”

Credits to www.we-are-aware.sg