You must forgive all these posts on AWARE, but hey, in my opinion I think May 2 2009 has been an important day back home in Singapore for several reasons:
1. A vote of no confidence was passed against Josie Lau and her committee. At a staggering 2:1, it was a resounding call for them to step down. This can (and has been) read in many ways: the Old Guard rightfully reclaiming their organization; a triumph for secularism; a slap on the wrist for aggressive proselytizing in the public sphere; a step forward in tolerance and social inclusiveness; a maturation of public debate...however you spin it -
2. - I think it can nevertheless be called a historical watershed in civil society. Time will tell if this statement holds up. But in the meantime, thank you to all the women and men who went down to the EGM, and made their voices count!
I was interested to read some of the comments thrown to the New Exco here http://wayangparty.com/?p=8732
"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."
Ouch!
On a separate note, t is heartening how this incident has prompted many of my friends to declare their pride at being Singaporean today - something I would have never heard in years. Overt statements of national pride are generally not in vogue amongst my set.
3.
From the hilarious youtube spoofs of the saga (see typical Cantonese melodrama above) to the numerous facebook notes which have popped up, it is truly the dawn of a new media. It showed even today - the new executive committee shut out the media from the EGM proceedings, but they couldn't stop the one from within.
So let's hear it for the Twitterers who gave us all real-time updates in the cyberworld. It was thrilling, sitting glued to my twitterfeed getting a blow-by-blow of the events unfolding within Suntec itself. They made Channel News Asia, Straits Times and the lot appear slow. Your iphone batteries might have nearly died in the process, but you've recorded a valuable piece of social history twitterers! This needs to go into the archives somehow.
I also find it amusing that for several hours, the #awaresg thread dominated twitter, causing curious American users to go 'What on earth is awaresg??? I can't find it on wikipedia!!' This is worth stressing - for 5 hours, #awaresg was the top trending topic on twitter in the world.
4. The EGM has unleashed a host of deliciously juicy soundbites bound to be repeated and bandied about in the weeks to come. See below for Dr Thio's (in)famous "Page 73" remarks - first reported and immortalized by Twitter users.
I love how Margaret Thomas (founding member AWARE, blue shirt) is simultaneously raising her hand to calm the crowd, yet can't suppress a look of supreme disdain. See 0:33 - 0:36!
They've already created special edition t-shirts based on Dr Thio and co's gems! I present Ms Sally Ang's fateful words which have since been widely repeated (with some glee) by online users:
See more at http://www.printeet.com/shop/ Hilarious really.
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A chapter has closed, but I hope this saga will signal the start of something larger in civil society. Critics have said that Singaporeans will simply recede back into normalcy ie: apathy once the controversy has blown over - let's take them up on this. Let's gather the energy and momentum this issue has created, reflect on it, and then bring it forward to make positive changes in our community.
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