AWARE Saga of 2009 (compiled)

[Guest Billy]

Sorry, didn't make myself clear.

Thio Su Min is the mother of Thio Li Ann. Mother is a former law professor and now a lawyer and the daughter is a law lecturer at NUS and a Nominated Member of Parliament.

[Nova]

These women (the new members who mounted the coup) have certain common denominators... they know each other, were organised to do this over at least the last few months, have common interest on certainly issues (at least about homosexuality). Has any news agency every investigated whether these women belong to any clubs, churches or political action groups prior to mounting this coup and successfully overthrowing the status quo?? Wonder who is the ring leader? Should our government be wary of these right wing conservative fundamentalists being so organised and ambitious?

The media is equally baffled about the whole saga too.

But there are certain stuffs they know that they cannot published, in fear of being sued. Afterall, we're talking about a group of filthy rich and powerful,

not forgetting fanatic and 'educated' people.

Believe me, these people are REALLY, REALLY rich and powerful.

[evianguy]

The media is equally baffled about the whole saga too.

But there are certain stuffs they know that they cannot published, in fear of being sued. Afterall, we're talking about a group of filthy rich and powerful,

not forgetting fanatic and 'educated' people.

Believe me, these people are REALLY, REALLY rich and powerful.

They are amazingly well organised. They must be part of another common organisation before this and someone in that group has to be the ring leader of this leadership coup. Wonder if they have any political ambition. This is definitely a group to keep a close tabs upon in case they pose a threat to our nation.

[amkies]

And the plot thickens by the day.

Quoted from ChannelNewsAsia, "the new president of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Josie Lau, has questioned the intentions of veteran members who are unhappy that newcomers have swept most of the executive committee (Exco) seats in the organisation's recent annual election.

In a statement to the media, she challenged these members to disclose their motives and objectives fully and honestly."

Now, she has turned the table around. Seems like a merry-go-round. Instead of championing rights of women, they are now into bich fighting. How, simply interesting.

[oralb]

Well, if there is one thing we can all sleep soundly on, it is that anti-gay Christian fundamentalists do not have brains, even if they are bankers and doctors.

On the contrary, this incident highlighted how organized and smart they are. Not only in identifying loopholes in AWARE election strata, they rallied their supporters to plan months ahead to take over the AWARE.

AWARE is not a small organization, neither is it unknown. It will take years to build up reputation like this and they are able to take over in a matter of months.

If this doesnt scare you on how organized and how determined they were, I dont know what will.

yawningbread has wrote a interesting article on this and I suggest everyone to take a look.

http://yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-1004.htm

i would like to highlight this part of his article:

An interesting question arises: Shouldn't the Registrar of Societies step in if it is later shown that a society is being used for a quasi-religious agenda? You can bet the government will rush in the moment that agenda is Islam-related. But it is one of the tragedies of Singapore that with the over-representation of Christians in government, they will not see any danger should it be a Christian agenda. They may think it can only improve Singapore!

i can only hope that the veterans are able to call upon a EAGM to call for a no-confidence vote.

[Guest Adware]

These fundamentalist christians tend to be very cohesive and co-operative in order to grow their network like virus. I suspect the new president could be the one who tried to tie DBS card to FOTK and eventually got pressured from local gay scene. Now that they tried to helm AWARE to consolidate their power against gay in the name of pro-family, pro-singapore and pro-woman. I hope the gay community can hold strong against any extreme anti-gay speech or actions coming from the new AWARE members, in future, who apparently were from the same flock of people in their anti-gay church. Like exteme muslim terrorist, this extreme anti-gay christian must not win to pressurise our govt (new or old) into making policies to further restrict gay populations. :swear:

Keep our head up and not let our guard down with the saga.

[Guest 710817]

If you have read other blogs, you would have knew that the new president of AWARE and her family members are all very anti-gay, just don't know how or when the gays have offended them. Don't know if there is any gay member in their family, if they don't have one now, hope they have in the near future, then we will see if they are anti-gay or not.

Anyway, everyone of us must be UNITED to challenge those people who are anti-gays. If not we will loss our space to them and it will be a sad day for us.

[Guest Billy]

Wonder is there any gay groups in Sing where I can join that offers good leadership. I know of PLU/yuarnning bread but no intention of identifying with them. I respect Alex Au, but do not like his style. Thanks.

[happy.99]

perhaps homosexual does not refer to only gays.

and in my entire life, i have never agree that woman should be in power, they cannot think rationally nor make an unbias decision as they are ruled by their emotion. neither churches ever have woman as pastor or lead the entire church in history. even in the bible did mention, the man must always be the head while the woman support the man. look at the singapore woman you will understand, why so many man in singapore choose to 'get' woman from other countries other than singapore (except china).

i always hear woman taking about woman's right. do i hear man taking about man's right? no, i have never.

[happy.99]

The media is equally baffled about the whole saga too.

But there are certain stuffs they know that they cannot published, in fear of being sued. Afterall, we're talking about a group of filthy rich and powerful,

not forgetting fanatic and 'educated' people.

Believe me, these people are REALLY, REALLY rich and powerful.

a group of woman who has nothing better to do. i believe that people with $$ and power are like that.

[permanent-guest]

From this news report we can see that most of the new committee members are from the same anti-gay church:

report:

EVEN as the Aware saga continues to unfold, it appears that some of the newcomers in its leadership are familiar faces at the Anglican Church Of Our Saviour at Margaret Drive.

Aside from new Aware president Josie Lau and her husband Alan Chin, the others are believed to be Ms Charlotte Wong, Ms Irene Yee, Ms Jenica Chua, Ms Maureen Ong and Ms Sally Ang.

So far, the new Aware leaders have refused to answer questions about whether they knew each other before sweeping the elections three weeks ago.

According to a long-time friend, Dr Chin is related to former law dean Dr Thio Su Mien and her daughter, Nominated Member of Parliament Professor Thio Li-Ann.

When contacted, the NMP declined to answer any questions. Dr Chin did not respond to questions e-mailed to him.

But checks yesterday showed that Dr Thio Su Mien and her husband, Mr Thio Gim Hock, the chief executive officer of property investor Overseas Union Enterprise, attend the church and also hold regular faith-healing sessions at their home.

Senior pastor Derek Hong was not answering any questions about his church members or Aware yesterday.

Asked if any of the new Aware exco members attended his church, he replied: 'No comment.'

Housed in a renovated former cinema near Commonwealth, the church has a congregation of about 4,000.

It takes a strong stand against homosexuality and states so on its website.

'Homosexual practice is contrary to God's Word. So we stand against that and the active and aggressive promotion of such behaviour,' it states.

It believes homosexuals can change, and has a programme to counsel and help those who want to give up 'homosexual thoughts, tendencies and practices'.

[Nova]

These fundamentalist christians tend to be very cohesive and co-operative in order to grow their network like virus. I suspect the new president could be the one who tried to tie DBS card to FOTK and eventually got pressured from local gay scene.

You're right, she is the one.

[Nova]

Oh yeah.

If her superiors at DBS are smart enough, they should question her about conflict of interest when money is donated to Family Focus thru usage of the credit card.

[Guest guest]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bigot

[Guest Guest]

Wonder if they have any political ambition.

They have already planted flags inside the Parliament through Thio Li Ann and other even more powerful people than her. They are outspoken about their agenda and are working their way to increasing their presence in the Parliament. This would ultimately point towards the setting up of a Christian state.

I think Singaporeans have got very real issues to be worried about, not just the gays. People of all other religion and races have as much cause for concern about this affair as the gays. I think this fight would have to extendto our straight brothers and sisters if they value the forward thinking modern society we currently enjoy.

[oralb]

For those who wonder what AWARE is, read their site

http://www.aware.org.sg/

they only have a follower of 4000, and yet they managed to take over the largest female support group in SG. that tells you how strong they are.

To those that said they are in the open, while we are in the "dark", i have this to ask, how many of you would raise to wave the flag of what you believe in openly when the times come?

they did, and very openly as well, remembered the straw stick in nose analogy on our sacred parliment court?

Open you eyes, if you belong to groups or society that may be vulnerable to such hostile take over, do something. (within legal means of cause!). If there is one lesson learnt from this, it is not to treat AGM lightly.

[permanent-guest]

For those who wonder what AWARE is, read their site

http://www.aware.org.sg/

they only have a follower of 4000, and yet they managed to take over the largest female support group in SG. that tells you how strong they are.

To those that said they are in the open, while we are in the "dark", i have this to ask, how many of you would raise to wave the flag of what you believe in openly when the times come?

they did, and very openly as well, remembered the straw stick in nose analogy on our sacred parliment court?

Open you eyes, if you belong to groups or society that may be vulnerable to such hostile take over, do something. (within legal means of cause!). If there is one lesson learnt from this, it is not to treat AGM lightly.

Do u mean that church only have a follower of 4000 and yet they manged to take over AWARE or do u mean AWARE has a follower of 4000?

[oralb]

From this news report we can see that most of the new committee members are from the same anti-gay church:

...

Housed in a renovated former cinema near Commonwealth, the church has a congregation of about 4,000.

...

the 4000 figure was from your earlier report

[permanent-guest]

the 4000 figure was from your earlier report

Thanks. That church has a member of about 4000. If half of that figure are women, then it is easy to take over AWARE. I suspect AWARE has only less than 1000 members (perhaps about 500).

[evianguy]

Thanks. That church has a member of about 4000. If half of that figure are women, then it is easy to take over AWARE. I suspect AWARE has only less than 1000 members (perhaps about 500).

If they want to spread their doctrine of intolerance and bigotry, they can very easily form their own organisation and preach to their members and the public who are interested in their believes.

I take offence at their action - hijacking a socially inclusive orgnisation (which has laboured long and hard for many years to get to where they are, earned the respect of the society in general) in order to spread their doctrine, a doctrine that is not even consistent with the aims and idealogy of the organisation that they have hijacked. With one fell swoop, they have besmudged and sullied the reputation and goodwill of AWARE, effectively decimating the years of painstaking labour of the members. Such behaviour is reprehensible and cannot be tolerated.

[Nova]

Ooh, there'll be a report on News 5 Tonight, tonight.

[Billy]

Its rather unusual. When asked if any exco members are from his church, Senior Pastor Derek Hong said "No comment".

I thought usually christian pastors are very forthcoming and may say something like : {Yes, x numbers of the exco are from my church.} Usually pastors are very proud of its members contribution to society. I guess he doesn't want to jeopardise anything.

[Nova]

Or maybe he already knew what is going on and is part of it?

[Guest me]

For the love of reason , why can't these new members of Aware band together and form a social cause and register as an association or club for people with their like minded thinking people .

Why can't they go through the process of registering as a society like everyone else unless they have ever tried and failed to get registered, just speculating here

I think people of josie Lau 's calibre would have no problem gathering the right people to form an assocition of their own.

Why the takeover and then subsequent posturing when confronted by the media.

[Guest jayy]

How the heck did a bigot get handpicked to be the president of Aware? Her husband is also a goddamn bigot.

[Guest Hate to the core]

We all saw their profile on newspaper yesterday. Let's remember who they are, where the worked and boycott all these establishments of theirs.

[Guest -Billy-]

Our suspicion has been confirmed. The most important posts of the new Aware exco are women from that church in Queenstown. The posts of Pres, Vic Pres, Secretary, Asst Sec, Treasure and exco are held by them.

Link:

http://blog.alicecheong.com/?p=411

One interesting fact again, the church pastor Derek Hong asked his members to write to the government feedback against homosexuality in 2007 during the Penal Code 377a debate.

Link:

http://www.trevvy.com/sgboyx/index.php?sho...=30471&st=0

......[[[Yesterday, 12:37 PM Post 13

Anglican Church of Our Saviour (COOS) - so there's where the group spread their seeds from.

However, readers might like to note that Thio Li Ann claimed during an interview with Straits Times that she belongs to "an independent, non-denomination church in the east of Singapore". COOS is located in the west.

Also, the senior pastor of COOS Derek Hong has allegedly sent the following email in April 2007 urging Christians to feedback to the government on their views on homosexuals:

QUOTE

12 April 2007 - Urgent Matter of Great Importance - Penal Code Amendments

Date : 12/04/2007

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Shalom Singapore <enquiries@desireofallnations.org>

To: Shalom Singapore <enquiries@desireofallnations.org>

Sent: Thursday, 5 April 2007 9:05:48AM

Subject: Fw: Urgent Matter of Great Importance - Penal Code Amendments

Dear Friends,

I write to alert you to a matter of grave urgency and importance. It’s responding to the government’s amendment of the Penal Code, especially the section pertaining to homosexual behaviour. The official invite for public feedback was issued months ago. You’ll see this in the attached pdf file “Penal Code Amendment”. The relevant part is Section 10 which covers “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”. The debate on the draft amendments takes place in Parliament in July/August.

Read PDF file “Proposed reform”. The Gay & Lesbian Lobby is working overtime to have the law changed so that our nation becomes increasingly amenable to its agenda which is as follows:

1. Decriminalize homosexual practice.

2. Criminalized any public negative comment or statement against homosexual practice. (Some pastors in the State of Victoria, Australia are now in jail because of this)

3. Legalize same sex marriages.

4. Legalize adoption by same sex partners. (Roman Catholic adoption agencies have closed down in Britain because they now have to allow their children to be adopted by same sex partners).

5. Have homosexuals classified as an ethnic group or race so that their rights are enshrined.

6. Make it compulsory by law that homosexual practices are taught to children in all schools. This is already happening in some parts of the world. They have already published colourful and explicit textbooks for this purpose!

While some denominational leaders have made Christian views known, our government’s approach on public morality is based on the weight of public opinion. Hence the greater the number of similar opinions the greater the weight government will give. I have been reliably informed that NOW IS THE TIME TO SUBMIT OUR FEEDBACK. I want to call for a mobilization of Christians and concerned people to give immediate personal feedback to the government.

Please share this with your church leaders and members as once the law is passed in favour of the gay agenda, there’ll be no turning back the gradual undermining and destruction of Biblical family values, as well as the freedom to preach godly sexuality standards, as in now happening in parts of Britain, Australia and the US.

The feedback site is www.reach.gov.sg. Scroll down to “Something To SAY?” and click on “Email Us today”.

The subject line should always mention: Penal Code Amendment:

All a person needs to do is write is something like: “With respect to the coming Parliamentary debate on the above subject, I would like to state that I’m against passing laws to allow same sex marriages or homosexual practices.”

A mother could send in something like: “I have three young children and I’m against any legislation that allow for same sex marriages.”

Other possible statements:

I don’t hate homosexuals, but I don’t believe their lifestyle is good for the future of our country.

I believe that real family is made from Dad and Mum, not Dad & Dad, or Mum & Mum.

Please don’t allow our country to be influenced by people who are confused about their own gender. Please don’t legalize same sex marriages.

I also attached articles and news reports on the effect of law changes in some places. This shows what Christians would be up against if we don’t act now. Please note the highlighted and underlined statement in the article “When will the law change”.

As a start, you, your family and staff can do the feedback today. The MHA will acknowledge your comment. You can see it’s easy. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I’ll be out of town till 12 April.

God bless

Derek Hong

[Ram]

Their takeover of Aware is outrageous. Outrageous because we kinda allowed it to happened.

The gay rights lobby is far too disorganized and diverse compared to Thio Li-Ann, Josie and their ilk. We need to get our act together if we are really serious about fighting the Christian Radical Tsunami that is quickly wiping out logic, fairness and equality in our public and private sector.

Edited April 19, 2009 by Ram

[oralb]

they have made their moves...

are you ready for it? Are you even AWARE of it?

are you still living in your wonderland and thinking none of these affects you? still thinks that AWARE is nothing but "a group of woman who has nothing better to do"?

AWARE provides a legitimate channel, an avenue for them to spread their agenda.

AWARE represents voices from females, mothers, wives.

Read that pastor's email above, see how he attempted to manipulate others in writing their opinions

and i can bet they will not stop here.

[amkies]

I am so enjoying how things have unfolded. They tried so hard to push through their agenda and now, we shall see all the brickbats and repercussions they are suffering.

"One voice had been silent in the controversy currently swirling around Singapore's most well-known women's group - that of stalwart and three-time president Constance Singam.

Yesterday afternoon, however, she broke her silence in a letter - marked confidential - to long-time members of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware).

She told them she had quit as adviser to the new executive committee steering the group. As immediate past president, Mrs Singam - under Aware's Constitution - automatically earned an advisory role to the new committee." - The Sunday Times

Let them take over AWARE. It will just be another anti-homosexuals christian group. From the day the group changed its leadership, AWARE no longer serves its required function. I hope the long-time members will set up another group which would do like what they have always done - to truly look into sexual discrimination and sexual equality issues

[Weisc]

And the plot thickens by the day.

Quoted from ChannelNewsAsia, "the new president of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), Josie Lau, has questioned the intentions of veteran members who are unhappy that newcomers have swept most of the executive committee (Exco) seats in the organisation's recent annual election.

In a statement to the media, she challenged these members to disclose their motives and objectives fully and honestly."

Now, she has turned the table around. Seems like a merry-go-round. Instead of championing rights of women, they are now into bich fighting. How, simply interesting.

A similar article also appeared in the Straits Times yesterday. That Josie Lau had the gall to question the petition of the EOGM and said that 120 of the 160 signatories are recruited after the EGM, of which only 5 were present at the EGM, and she further stated " Why have some people cast aspersions on our good intentions ? Why are they so angry with us" She herself even went on to to cast aspersions on the previous committee and suggested that they had hidden agenda against the current committee's current goal of " pro-women, pro-family, pro-family and pro-singapore".

To me, for what its worth, her reply to the press is simply retarded and obviously not well thought-out, heck, it probably didn't even go by their clique of lawyers for cross-examination. Isn't it like giving herself a slap on her own face when she accuses the ex-AWARE exco of organising an attempt to interrogate their intentions and agenda and possibly to oust them ? According to the papers she even proclaimed that they had been democratically elected ... if this is not the biggest case of the Pot calling the Kettle black I have nothing to say. To think she even managed to climb to her position with her lack of coherent and logical thinking, but I guess sometimes being an ostrich with ur head stuck in the sand so long does tend to addle the brain somewhat. Seems like a certain religion does that to you more often than not since they don't want the followers to think of all the logical inconsistencies in their teachings :whistle: Did she sleep with her blind bosses or what ? But IMO she's too FUGLY for that ... even a blind bat wouldn't want her, bet she "smells like a rotting fish" down there too :yuk:

On top of which, instead of clearing the air to the press on their much-criticised action, she cast aspersions on the old-committee and says that they probably had a hidden agenda during the time when they were running AWARE. Also strangely, I noticed a little letter in the Forums page by a guy named George Lim. He lambasted the previous AWARE exco for tarnishing the society's name by "intentionally promoting the screening of the perverted movie Spider Lilies, which had an overtly lesbian content". Since I am not sure how the editorial at ST works, it does seem to me to be too much of a coincidence when 2 different people make negative statements of an association which typically doesn't hog the limelight with negative press, and the 2 separate comments made seem to run in a somewhat parallel line of thought, aka "ex-AWARE encourage LESBIAN AND GAY RELATIONSHIPS !!! OMG WTF ?!?!!? ". I smell a rat, and if my conspiracy theory is right, George Lim is probably hailing from the same church, one of the many lap dogs there ...

Too bad I can't prove it but I think the Church probably preached to their congregation again and their stupid sheep actually wrote in the blast AWARE's previous so-called dubious actions in order to add Creed to unethical actions of Josie and Gang(bang ?). Probably the best-written piece of the trashy letters sent in by the congregation got published since they only allocated less than 1/4 of a page to this part. Coming to which, don't you think Josie's 'husband' Alan Chin looks rather dubious in yesterdays edition of ST ? Like the sort of homophobic-repressed-closet type ? Anyway FUGLY as well ...

Ending off, my post is probably a lil' bitchy but I just can't stand these bunch of hypocrites, they should at least polish up their act and not give such a badly scripted letter to the press. Can't she just employ someone with better brains to come up with a better sounding letter ? She's probably so rich she uses $50 notes as pads ... I'm sure more people will be up-in-arms against what she had said. Kudos for the job badly done Josie :clap: :clap: anyway :oops: my first long post, newbie here, pls dun flame me (too much) if our views differ, me shy ... Lastly, hope the group of Turds get ousted ASAP !!

[azuchan]

I'm worried this will serve as a precedence for these people to take over other VWOs.

I'm especially worried they will target AfA next.

[Guest Crime watch]

Watch tonight 10pm talking point on CNA, she will be interviewed live. Expect more nonsense from her but that will also depends on how the two hosts question her motive. I hope they drag in DBS saga to wash her smelly CB clean.

[Nova]

I think it's very unlikely they'll go after AFA.

I'm very glad that DBS has issued official statement that they do not approve of her as president for AWARE , they could have kept it quiet and

settle it as internal affairs.

I hate to even say this but i have a urge to burn bibles outside that church at queenstown.

[Guest 37B56D]

Hi Nova, relax and take a deep breath, no need to be so work up, we can do it in a better way. OK.

[Guest me]

T V Alert :angry:

Care to tune in to Channel News Asia tonite at 10.10 PM to watch talking point.

Possible guest speaker Josie Lau on how she will steer the direction of AWARE.

Let's see what she have to say.

[Nova]

we can do it in a better way.

Haha like sit outside the church in drag and drink liquor and smoke non-stop and be extremely loud?

Just kidding.

I was there this morning actually, at the hawker centre.

Gosh, i can't bring myself to look at them, I kept thinking they are like a different species,

like what you see in the movie "the living dead" or something.

Don't worry I'm not the same level, just thinking out loud LOL.

[Guest sympathetic guest]

Just passing by with my two cent's worth of comments ... why don't you guys give them a taste of their own medicine? Well if you gays can stand united and infiltrate that church, you can find out what they're doing right? But i guess you gays are too busy making empty comments here rather than putting in some real action. That's where you gays end up as losers. Too bad ...

[Nova]

Haha that's farnee. :clap:

Empty comments? Like what you just did?

[GachiMuchi]

Haha like sit outside the church in drag and drink liquor and smoke non-stop and be extremely loud?

Just kidding.

I was there this morning actually, at the hawker centre.

Gosh, i can't bring myself to look at them, I kept thinking they are like a different species,

like what you see in the movie "the living dead" or something.

Don't worry I'm not the same level, just thinking out loud LOL.

Nova,

I know you are speaking in jest but just for your info, not all gays likes to be in drag, drink liquor, smokes or be extremely loud.

We are just not that kind of stereo-typical gay.

[Nova]

Sorry GM, I was just kidding.

[azuchan]

I think it's very unlikely they'll go after AFA.

I'm very glad that DBS has issued official statement that they do not approve of her as president for AWARE , they could have kept it quiet and

settle it as internal affairs.

I hate to even say this but i have a urge to burn bibles outside that church at queenstown.

We should NEVER underestimate what these Christian Taleban members are capable of. If they can just show how easy it is to infiltrate a relatively benign organisation like AWARE, what's stopping them from setting their standards higher?

These religious fundamentalists will stop at nothing to make sure their own agenda is being forced upon the citizens of the land they live in, because they believe that only their brand of morals are the correct brand of morals. We only need to look at the US a few years back (especially during the second term of the Bush administration) where the Christian Fundamentalist movement experienced an explosion of growth around the world. Cases in point: The documentary Jesus Camp, Rev Ted Haggard, and so on.

I think it's only a matter of time that people of these ilk will infiltrate AfA, and begin to impose their agenda on everybody else. I strongly urge the people at AfA and all other VWOs to look through their Constitutions and amend them so that the values they stand for (e.g. non-discrimination, equality of race, language, religion, gender, sexuality, etc.) are enshrined and these Fundies cannot do anything, before another AWARE comes to light.

Edited April 19, 2009 by azuchan

[Guest lo]

a fairly objective and unemotional view of the drama:

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,...,199449,00.html?

[Guest Guest]

Wonder how many of you watched the discussion over tv last night.

It is ironical that when questions were fielded towards JL, the assistant was answering most of it.

This shows that somebody "bo liow" at all. How to be an effective leader ?

When the interviewer asked her relating to "sexual orientation", she played defensive and avoided the question altogether.

Her reply was surely not satisfactory at all.

[Guest Bitch]

Wonder how many of you watched the discussion over tv last night.

It is ironical that when questions were fielded towards JL, the assistant was answering most of it.

This shows that somebody "bo liow" at all. How to be an effective leader ?

When the interviewer asked her relating to "sexual orientation", she played defensive and avoided the question altogether.

Her reply was surely not satisfactory at all.

She told the interviewers that she is ready to meet the press, but end of the show, she is seen wayanging without a clue and she looked into the air most of the time as she spoke.

[Guest Awared]

I share the same opinion as Alex Au on his site. Aware is lost, permanently.

Even if the EOGM overthrows josie and gang, they could easily retaliate, plausibly in a legal manner. They have the devotion, energy, money, and most importantly, the cohesion.

That scenario would inevitably mean a prolonged and expensive battle. Not to belittle Constance and her gang, but they operated on a NGO basis. I doubt they have the resources to win something like this.

The hope now is that josie screws up big time. Or, on a more realistic platform, that constance can form a new group to overshadow the old Aware.

Also, this audacious move by COOS may not be totally a bad thing. I think other NGOs would now know the importance of guarding against new members with ulterior motives. The christians are openly supporting josie and her earlier works, and this has alarmed other groups. Let's hope that josie, and derek, also become too loud for their own good.

[oralb]

Here are views from others

http://wherebearsroamfree.blogspot.com/200...y-backfire.html

http://wherebearsroamfree.blogspot.com/200...ling-again.html

unfortunately this bear isnt that type of bear we normally would like...

much that i dislike his tone of writing, he was spot-on that we are much less organized than that side... read other readers comments, do gave insights to how others see us.

[oralb]

Now i dont advocate discrimination against religion, in fact I respect everyone has his or her own belief, but not when that belief is proaching on others, drawing the line.

If there are anything benefitial over this AWARE saga, it brought everyone to think. Different bloggers have different views, some that are neutral gave unbiased insight into it. I hope this at least gave you, the reader, a chance to think, think over your life, over your orientation.

Yes i know the sauna threads, the home based massuers threads gathered plenty of views, not that i dont read them, i do enjoyed reading through them as well. But after that part of your urge is satisfy, do spend some time reading through the writings from others (IF you have not done so)

it is amazing what WWW can dig out...

I was checking on others blog and did some google, this came out from the year 2007

http://angrydr.blogspot.com/2007/05/sick-sick-people.html

Other good read:

http://blog.alicecheong.com/?p=412

What can I do?

For me, after that bank's charity incident, I have not been using their credit card. Now that more info on the background of the VP has surfaced, the more I think I should keep my card at home.

There are plenty of other banks cards to choose from, I dont see the need to support someone that thinks that my orientation is a diease.

There is no need to cancel my card, as the bank has to spend retaining cost to keep me as a customer. At the end of day, the bank will see me as one customer with no spending on the card.

I read an article in weekend Today paper, it wrote that it was rare to have a organization to openly against its staff's after office activities, and it is even rarer to have the staff publicly go against the order. I see that sheer determination in her to stand up for her cause, that I admired her, for at a bad economy times, it pays to be prudence to keep one's job.

http://leelilian.blogspot.com/2009/04/dbs-...s-new-head.html

AWARE AGM 2009 : EOGM : Do SOMETHING!

http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/...d-do-something/

Note the 2 datelines

Proof of registration for EGM - You HAVE to register with manager@aware.org.sg or call 67797137 before 22nd Apr

Extraordinary General Meeting (”EGM”) - Saturday 2nd May 2009, 2pm to 5pm

I am not going to say you should or should not join, it is about personal choice. That's what we have been hoping and fighting for, isnt it?

[Guest aabb]

suppose to be working for society

BUT

kept talking about religion and sexuality inclination.

how i wish one of their sons are GAY then they would take a look at us from a different perspective

[amkies]

Hi OB, just some thoughts. I wonder how do you suppose we AJs can organise ourselves when in fact the people in this country are not well-organised? Do you suppose we can register ourselves as a society? Do you suppose AJs can behave like the xtian fundies to group together and spring a massive takeover without running into the risk of being exposed? Remember, we were not even allowed to organise a healthy run in pink? Or should we simply organise more gatherings like the infamous stripe mahjong sessions?

I have read but simply cannot understand what we are supposed to understand from the two postings. Obviously, this bear is homophoic or just another xtian supporter who claims he is not. He claims that we, AJs love to bawl and cry foul. Indeed, we cry foul because we are treated unfairly. But, did we just shake our fists and stamp on the floor like a three-year-old kid would, without a valid reason? In fact, no other groups, except AJs have spoken up and lent support for the old guard of AWARE. I think we are more united than what that bear can imagine. Where does he get his idea about AJs bawling and moaning? From the papers, of course. And, do you suppose the papers have ever done us justice?

If ever, i want to read someone commenting about AJs, that should come from AJs themselves, because people like the bears simply don't understand us. How do you suppose a non-AJ to understand and empathise with AJs?