More wisdom!

Recently I thought I had a little tiny dot of something stuck on my upper right molar gum. But I could not remove it. It suddenly dawned on me that maybe my upper right molar is growing! At this ripe old age? I have 2 wisdom teeth, one on my upper left molar and the other on my bottom left molar (this was already removed). And there is no sign of my bottom right wisdom tooth coming out as I have flat gum/space there.

I remember my first wisdom tooth extraction well. It happened in my 20s. At that time, the wisdom tooth was already grown but had turned into a bad horrible toothache. The dentist confirmed I needed an operation but it would be a straight forward case and I would need 1 week to recuperate after. I thought tooth extraction was just chicken feed. The dentist injected the gum around the wisdom tooth with anaesthesia. Although I did not feel any pain then, I could feel what he was doing to my mouth. I could feel him plying my mouth wide open and in a few seconds, he was cutting the gum around the wisdom tooth. Nip nip nip!!! And in a few more seconds my wisdom tooth was out. He proudly showed me the culprit (who was causing me pain). My case was considered a straight forward op. He told me the anaesthesia would wear off in about an hour's time and I should take the pain killers immediately. I went home and immediately fell asleep. But I was awakened by the excruciating pain in my mouth. The anasthesia has already worn off! It was the most dreadful pain I had ever felt in my whole life that shook my whole body. My health has been excellent all along (with blessings, I had no need to be hospitalised), so that pain was the worst I had ever experienced, because it just numbed my whole body while the mouth erupted in all kinds of pain. It lasted 2 days. I had to be quick to take the pain killer but then I found out I was allergic to the damn pain killers!

Now you know why I am most dreadful and afraid that I have another wisdom tooth (right upper molar) growing! I am hoping I would not need to extract this one in time as the right bottom molar is absent (hence I have the space to accommodate the new wisdom tooth). I need to visit the dentist to confirm that.

Long ago, I read a chinese book written by a Hong Kong fengshui master cum buddhist master, Edward Li. That book was talking about reading the fortune of face/body/palm. Each page would focus on different unique features. For example he mentioned we should never let the hair in our nostrils grow out (especially men), and we should always trim nostril hair. This is because having the hair grow out of your nose (which represents wealth) signifies potential money loss (lou cai). I remembered he mentioned about teeth on one page. If my memory serves me right, I think he mentioned ideally we should have 32 teeth or more. I counted and I have 30 teeth then. I was thinking at that time, what happens then if we had to extract our wisdom tooth or other tooth? I remember last time during the period whenever something was wrong with my tooth (eg. toothache or when a tooth need filling), my job was not smooth too. Was there any correlation or just coincidence? Well, just teeth for thought.... hehehe....

Stand up and speak out

Wow the AWARE saga has resulted in some commercial gain. This lady Vicki Liew has immediately came up with commemorative t-shirts from the most memorable quotes of that night. She did it to raise money for AWARE. Here is the press release.

I chuckled when I saw all the infamous quotes.

I thought of some more quotes too.
"I STAND CORRECTED" - Pastor Hong
"ORDER PLEASE!!!" - Josie Lau
"OPEN DOOR POLICY, OPEN YOUR DOORS!" - Irene Ang
"THREE MINUTES!!!" - Audience
"NOT WITHIN MY PURVIEW" - Legal Counsel Gregory Vijayendran
"COURTESY, CUSTOM, COMMON SENSE" - Legal Counsel Gregory Vijayendran

If you would want a piece of this momentous event, you can order online from this website. Each Tshirt costs S$29.90. 70% of the profits will go to AWARE. So if you want to support the Old Guard ..... ORDER, PLEASE!!!!

DO NOT TOUCH MY PLANTS!

I love my plants dearly. I prefer to tend to my plants and water them myself. As I mentioned last time, I do not allow my parents to water my plants. I have been through a few times of overseas trips and coming back to see my plants dying from too much water. It pained me to see my plants die.

Tonight after my bath, I came out to see my mom watering my plants again! I blew my top. I had just watered my plants last night! I usually water my plant every 3 days. Those plants inside the house get the morning sun but they are indoor, so the amount of water needs to be controlled. As for the plants outside the house, they hardly get any sunlight, so they too no need too much water. Now then I know my mom still secretively waters my plants, plus myself, means my plants are overwatered! I had learnt my lesson the past few times NOT to overwater plants. They are supposedly growing very beautifully.

Just because the weather is hotter recently, and my mom herself is complaining about the heat, that does not mean my plants are dying for water too! And also because my grandma had recently reminded us to water our plants promptly, does not mean my plants are too dry! I tried explaining to Mom many times before, drooping plants may not mean that they are dry or dying. It can also mean they are overwatered and rotting inside! No wonder a few of my plants are drooping. She must have watered them without my knowing. I explained to her that I have told her umpteen times DO NOT TOUCH MY PLANTS. She got defensive and said so now it is all her fault. I said yes look at the times when I went overseas and when I got back, all my plants died! I told her Grandma's house gets the west sun hence it is very hot, that is why she needs to water her plants everyday. But that does not mean we have to water OUR plants EVERYDAY! I asked her why her ears are so light, she can listen to everyone else except me! If she is bored or too free, then go wash the bathroom! Yet she complains she is tired everyday! And my mom is not an illiterate old lady. She is an educated English-speaking lady! She is just too stubborn to listen or try to understand the reason why I said DO NOT TOUCH MY PLANTS.

This is a small matter, but the thing with me and my mom is, we have little clashes here and there. She likes to listen to others, my aunts, my sis, her friends, whatever other people says she believes. But when it is from me, her ears are deaf. That is why sometimes I am so exasperated. She is just too stubborn to admit she is stubborn so she blames me instead. That is why sometimes I prefer not to talk too much, to avoid conflicts. But I will flare if my plants die again. DO NOT TOUCH MY PLANTS!!!

Ready, set, fly!

What a beautiful cool morning! Despite falling asleep at around 2am, I woke up at 7.30am! And despite having so many dreams these few nights, I did not feel tired at all (some dreams I could not recall clearly). This morning I felt so fresh and relaxed and in bliss.

Maybe I feel great because I am on healthy vegetarian diet. One of the days, I had lunch at the Kopitiam foodcourt in Plaza Singapura, ordered the Japanese Mushroom Paper Steamboat sans the chicken. It was a huge portion generously added with cabbage, mushrooms, inoki mushroom, chunks of tofu, carrots with rice and pickles. I chose the spicy soup base, it was flavourful with the rich taste of mushrooms but it turned out to be quite spicy hot after many sips.

Another day I was near City Hall, so I had lunch at the foodcourt because I remembered Tenya, a stall inside the foodcourt selling tempura everything. I chose all my favourite non-meat stuff; huge mushrooms, young corn, lotus root, pumpkin, yam. They dipped the tempura flour and fried all the items, plus a bowl of rice which they sprinkled the tempura crisps all over, and miso soup, and a glass of green tea. I only missed the tempura scallop. I was very full. Although it was nice, perhaps they were all fried, so got a little "jelak" (Malay for being squeamish after consumption).

I am all geared up for Vesak Day this Saturday. For years, my family will go to the open field next to Aljunied MRT organised by ABC (Amitabha Buddhist Centre). Huge tentage will be set up and huge thangkas of Buddha Shakyamuni and other Buddhas would be up. There would be huge crowds. Many offerings and flowers and lamp offerings would be available for sale, as well as other Dharma products. This year there would be a huge statue of Maitreya Buddha erected. Maitreya is the Future Buddha and he is in a sitting position (and not the lotus position). The essence of Maitreya means loving kindness. That is from which I recently added a middle name "Triya", as I have established and would like to establish a continual connection with Maitreya Buddha to be reborn as his disciple/follower in many future lifetimes.

This year, in addition, I would be visiting other places for a relics exhibition and circumbulation as well as attending the usual pujas, and also bathing the Buddha. And this Sunday being Mothers' Day, I would be hosting all the mothers in my family (about 10 of them plus their families), our gathering would be in my house this year. I am all set. :D

Dealing with it

Nowadays my eyes have been giving me problems. After 12 midnight on the PC, my eyes would turn blurry and I had to strain to see the screen. But 70% were blur. I had to resort to my spectacles again. Some days I have been chatting with friend till 2-3am, yet strangely I can still get up on time every morning. Maybe this has taken its toil on me. Then I have to sleep more.

I touched base with so many people from the past as well as made new friends recently. I was wondering a few weeks ago, when would I ever get out of the self-imposed rut - after some bad brush with people last year. In terms of my relationships with humans, I would consider last year as the worst I had ever experienced in my whole life. And I suffered the aftermath shock for the longest time. Never in my life did I had any problem interacting with people of all levels, friends or acquaintances. Mostly I am very much loved by friends, acquaintances and even strangers. So last year was a misnomer that left me reeling in shock and disbelief. All because of one person, I had to reassess people's character so on and so forth. That's why now I am very wary of people who are ungrateful and who do not show the slightest gratitude for camaraderie, who do not appreciate all my efforts as a friend. In fact it has become a phobia. I tend to have a shield around me, especially those I interact more closely with. The fear is still there, and I would not allow myself to go through the same pain again.

Ironically, maybe that is why I prefer making friends with and interacting with strangers nowadays. Subconsciously, maybe it's because I don't have to feel that obliged if I could not get along well with a stranger friend, I can just easily ignore or full stop.

Anyway, I made friends with an American who is a lovely lady and who always gives me wonderful advise. I also got to know some friends online. One of them is JK who is very nice and we exchange life experiences. I also got in touch with a former schoolmate from the same school but we did not know each other then. He used to be nicknamed "Prince" by my classmates. A business acquaintance I got back in touch with recently has been real supportive in recommending me opportunities and I am grateful for that.

I don't know if I have fully recovered from that phobia, but despite that loss, I have gained many other things and a wealth of experience in dealing with people. And the lesson I learnt is, never ever be ungrateful to those who love and treat you well, because otherwise, the guilt will always come back to haunt you (that is, if you have a conscience).

The deeper lesson from this saga

Don't worry, this posting is not going to be another ranting session against the ex-NewExco of AWARE. And I am not going to go into what lessons we learnt from the saga, because there are many other more eloquent writers of this issue.

With the aftermath of the great show-down last Saturday behind me, I have regained my composure, from the pre-EGM mood of teeth/fist-clenching anger and injustice to the post-EGM mood of extreme euphoria. Justice has been done. It was sweet victory and a historic moment for the women in Singapore which made me proud, really proud.

I read many post-EGM articles and saw the photos (photos here courtesy of TheOnlineCitizen). When I looked at Josie Lau, she has probably aged 10 years (from the photos of her that night). And she was a pitiful sight in her small frame. She was trying to smile and to look calm despite being bombarded with jeers and lambasted by the majority of those members present in the hall the whole night and probably most of the Singapore population for the past one month. She put on a brave front, compared to her fellow stone-faced Exco colleagues. She even had to apologise on behalf of her "SHUT UP, SIT DOWN" exco member and she probably had to take responsibility for the $90,000 expenditure soon.

Reading all the harsh comments thrown at her (including mine) and jeering her for her not-up-to-mark leadership, I feel a little sorry for her. Putting myself in her shoes, I think I would probably just choose to disappear into thin air and never come back. Putting myself in her shoes, how am I going to face my employer and fellow colleagues and subordinates in DBS from now on, how am I going to explain to my daughters why almost everyone publicly, openly, hated me? Putting myself in her shoes, where is my career heading now? Putting myself in her shoes, how am I to face my fellow church members and fellow sisters and brothers in Christ? Would I have failed them in my fight for a supposedly good cause? Or would fellow Christians hate me for being a disgrace to my religion? Many scenarios played in my mind if I were Josie Lau right now. If I were her, I would probably take a looooooong break overseas for maybe 5 years and hope by then no one in Singapore would remember me. Or migrate. No, I would not choose to be in her predicament in the first place.

It was obvious Josie Lau was nothing but just a puppet for her feminist mentor Thio Su Mien, who convinced Josie she could wear a hat way bigger than her head. I would think her pastor also played an indirect role in her downfall, for his misuse of the Christian pulpit to promote her "secular" cause. It was a very wrong misguided action that led to nation-wide uproar.

I would just say to Josie, "It's alright. It is probably a test from God and hope you have learnt a lesson well. I do sympathise with you. Things that happened, happened for a reason. For one, the surge in AWARE membership was really due to you (although in a sad way). I hope there would be no more conflicting action from you. And I hope you pick yourself up and move on (and I think green may not be your lucky colour)."

Why do I feel sorry for Josie? I was motivated by a quote by the great Buddhist master, Je Tsongkhapa, which is a lesson I can learn:

Giving Rise to Compassion
At present you cannot bear for your friends to suffer; you are pleased with your enemies' suffering; and you are indifferent to the suffering of persons toward whom you have neutral feelings, who are neither enemies nor friends.

Consequently, in order to have affection for living beings, cultivate the view that they are close to you, like friends or relatives. Since your mother is the closest person to you, cultivate a recognition of all beings as your mothers. Also, recollect their kindness as your mothers and develop the wish to repay their kindness. These three steps are how you learn to cherish and have affection for living beings. The result of these three steps is a love that considers living beings to be beloved, just as a mother considers her only child. This love gives rise to compassion.

- By Tsong-Khapa in Lam Rim Chen Mo, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

Ain't missing a thing

These were my brunch that day in Suntec before the AWARE EGM. The yellow gerbera was given by the Old Guard volunteers (so sweet of them). I had to make sure I fill my stomach as I knew it was going to be a long session. It turned out to be the only meal I had that whole day, because by the time I reached home, it was about 10pm and I was in such a high spirit that I forgot about hunger pangs.

I had the Mee Siam and the thick Peanut Butter Toast from Toast Box, and my thick Kopi-C. It was a little too heavy but I forced myself to finish all. It was not the best mee siam I tasted, and the vermicelli was very thin, but it was palatable.

Today is already Day 18 of me being temp vegetarian. And I am alive and kicking! Although I don't think I have slimmed down in any way, but I felt lighter inside my system and not so "congested". I ate lots of green veggies these few weeks and tried different "innovative" ways of eating the usual dishes outside, replaced by veggies. I also ate more nuts, tofu, beancurd and drank soya bean milk in between, so that I would have sufficient nutrition.

This is the Ee-Mee (noodles) I had recently. The Tze-Char stall downstairs sell a mean plate of Ee-Mee which I usually like to eat. So when I asked them to cook a vegetarian version for me, I was delighted they obliged. They used 3 types of mushrooms, cauliflower, carrot, flat beans, and young corn and stir fry with the Ee-Mee. And together with green chilli, it was very nice!

Another day, I ordered Fried Oysters without oysters! I think the uncle at the stall thought I was mad. But I usually like Fried Oysters for its unique taste. Even without oysters I was happy to eat the omelette mixed with rice flour (usually 95% of this dish comprises of egg and rice flour anyway). And it was different from Fried Carrot Cake although they sound the same. I also love the chilli that usually comes with Fried Oyster, which is sourish that makes the fried oysters more delectable.

AWARE Exco ousted

Justice has prevailed!! I spent one whole day at Suntec for the AWARE EGM expecting the worse, but came away very high, thrilled and touched, seeing how all women of different races, different religions, different beliefs, different cultures, women from all walks of life in Singapore coming together as one to give the sneaky one-month-old Exco a NO-CONFIDENCE mandate (1414 vs 761 votes).

I had just signed up as a new member of AWARE and paid $40 a few days ago because I could not stand the overbearing New Exco clowns anymore. I could not let a respectable NGO be so grossly misrepresented. I felt I had to do something - my precious one vote. I was there very early. All the counters for registration were set up and a sea of Red Tshirts volunteers (New Exco)were getting ready. When the volunteers of the Old Guard wearing White We-Are-Aware T-shirts started arriving, there was a minute of chaos. I saw Jenica Chua (of New Exco) instructing her staff to stop the Old Guard volunteers from setting up a booth next to theirs. I overheard her saying "tell them registration starts at 12pm", and even refused to let the white Tshirt volunteers be at the premise. They were stopped at the escalator and chased away till someone had to tell a reporter she was being pushed. Even an ordinary member like myself could choose to stand nearby to wait, but why were the volunteers of the Old Guard (who are obvious members too) driven away?

The mood in the long queue was really heartwarming. It was obvious which side most supporters were on. Everyone seemed relaxed, and there were throngs of supporters turning up, joining the queues, chatting and joking with each other. The White Tshirts volunteers were busy giving out water, sandwiches, information leaflets and even flowers to all the ladies in the queue, just to cheer everyone up. I did not see any of the Red Tshirts doing anything at all besides standing inside the auditorium. Overheard in the queue, when volunteers advised members to ensure they were in the right queue, "Ordinary Members" queue or "New Registration Members" queue, to which a reply came "I happened to think we are all Extraordinary members here".

I think about 2500 members turned up, out of which about 2200 were women, the rest being men who were not allowed to vote. I saw a few celebrities like Nadya Hutagalung, Patricia Mok, Irene Ang, and Violet Oon. It was obvious who they supported. Many senior founding members and past presidents of AWARE, high-profile lawyers and professionals and volunteers who were with AWARE were there too. Many witnessed busloads of New Exco supporters coming in at the last moment (perhaps coming from church?) and seated at the back. Our bags were checked by security before entering the auditorium. Overheard, the security asking a member if there was anything sharp inside her bag, to which her reply "only my tongue".

Below is the sequence of the EGM taken from Straits Times and those highlighted in BOLD RED, my two cents worth.

2.30pm: Ms Lau is interrupted repeatedly in her president's address by the audience. She has asked security to ask unruly people out. She could not control the crowd and kept repeating "please be quiet" and "order please" and "let me finish my president's address". She was just reading from a script on her powerpoint slides information which everyone already knows from the AWARE website. She offered no explanation of anything nor her team's directions at all. Talking about security, one security guard was besides Josie the whole night. What was she afraid of, that people would throw rotten eggs?

2.56pm: Ms Lau's legal counsel, Greg, has asked for the microphones to be left switched on, to cheers from supporters. Before, when old guard members tried to speak, the mikes were not switched on. All photographers are now asked to leave as some used flash photography. All those jeering are asked to leave too. She was untactful and kept talking in a threatening manner, thus incurring more jeers from the audience. These very actions showed us how underhanded this new team was, the extremes they would go to reach/hide their aims. It was only one-way dictatorship communication.

3.13pm: Ms Lau introduces her new exco members' profiles to boos from crowd. Many shouted "get on to business!!"

3.25pm: They have skipped to agenda items 3 and 4. Mr Gregory, the legal counsel said: "Whilst a vote of no confidence does not mean the new exco has to step down, they should consider doing so." To which the New Exco seemed to have no reaction or deaf to it.

3.30pm: Voters are now briefed on voting procedure. Each ordinary member is entitled to one vote. Men are not allowed to vote.

3.42pm: A new member recites part of the pledge, stressing justice and equality, that the old guard has not been treated equally. The crowd is exuberant and cheers as she attributes increase in membership to old guard. It is now chaotic as the new and old supporters shout at the mike. Earlier, Josie Lau had the gall to flash a PPT slide showing the surge in membership for April alone, from 300 to 3000. She taking credit for this?!

3.43pm: Irene Ang speaks at mike. She says, "I'm a Christian and i love God as much as you do. But I don't agree with what the new exco is doing." Many Christians in the midst also stood up to say they cannot respect or condone the action of just a small group of the Christian community in such a takeover. Actress Irene Ang criticised "How can you change the locks and say your doors are open?". A New Exco supporter took to the mike and called the crowd "hooligans" to which the audience took offense again and roared.

3.47pm: Crowd chants 'where were you' after Mrs Singam asks where new exco were in the past 24 years. Ms Lau asks for right to reply from old guard supporters. She asked for right to reply but when given the chance to reply, she always turned to her legal counsel Greg for advise or she would call upon her mentor Dr Thio for her input. Otherwise, she just deviated and gave all the airy-fairy answers which did not answer to the point the many questions the audience asked. In short, got say like never say lah.

4pm: Several new members step out to express their displeasure at the new exco. 'You have not shown the grace of god at all,' said one. Another said "you want respect, you have to EARN respect, by being a volunteer and not by a takeover".

4.02pm: Feminist mentor Thio Su Mien has now stepped up to the mike, asks people to 'show respect to their elders'. She says she is charmed to appear in a book celebrating women. For the 2 times this old woman grabbed the mike, I thought she was going senile or something, because she was speaking gibberish and claimed the crowd has "no manners" and not shown her any respect. Are you God, Dr Thio? The way she talked was condescending and the crowd booed again. And I am really ashamed this woman used to be the Dean of Law in NUS.

4.10pm: NMP Siew Kum Hong asks for their team of scrutineers to monitor the vote counting process. New exco's legal counsel has agreed. Votes are being cast now. For a mere 2000 over votes, the counting body Deloitte took more than 3 hours to count. Not to mention, the New Exco (on behalf of innocent members like us) paid good expensive money to these service providers. We saw many of the Red Tshirts leaving in droves after casting their votes. Isn't this obvious?

3.04pm: Ms Sally Ang from the new exco shouted to the crowd: 'shut up and sit down'. The crowd boos and asks for her to be escorted out. Ms Lau apologises for Ms Ang's outburst. Ms Ang has just once again admonished the crowd sternly to let Ms Lau continue. Are we a dog, Sally? Josie apologised quite grudgingly though, credibility all thrown out of the window. Not that they have any in the first place.

4.28pm: Votes are now being counted. New exco discusses proposed constitutional amendments. To which the audience refused, arguing the New Exco may have to step down after the results, in which the amendments would then be null. Why waste time with their follow-the-book tactics?

4.46pm: There is now a 10-minute break. Proposed constitution amendments adjourned for a while.

5.06pm: In her right to reply, Ms Lau said former Aware President Constance Singam was asked to step out of a recent meeting after the March 28 AGM as sensitive matters were discussed. Ms Lau also said Ms Schutz Lee, Aware's ex-centre manager, was fired for 'insurbordination'. I observed Josie always gave one-liner replies and never could elaborate on her stance, albeit the many questions posed to her throughout the EGM. She kept regurgitating sequence of events which we all already knew. How could this person lead a by-now humongous organisation when she could not even address and control the crowd? One member stood up and commented she was shocked that the New Exco being the "leaders of AWARE are such lousy speakers!".

5.21pm: The old guard supporters question new exco on money spent on booking location, which has cost more than $20,000. At first Maureen the Treasurer said the numbers were still being compiled, to which the crowd said "we just need an estimate!". Only then she revealed it was more than $20,000 for the rental.

5.27pm: Ms Chew I-Jin reveals she stepped down as assistant treasurer due to a lack of transparency, as she was not given the infomation on costs incurred for EGM and security. To which the New Exco said Chew still held her assistant treasurer position to exercise her rights to ask then, and Chew replied she did but was shut out.

5.32pm: An associate member steps up to speak. Said Mrs Constance Singam reminded him of his dead mother. The three-time former Aware president gave him a 'motherly smile'. Many in the audience paid tributes to the old guards of AWARE for their dedicated work for 20 over years. It was heartwarming seeing all the old guards eloquently speaking up for AWARE which they had helped built.

5.52pm: A new member asks the new exco if helping all women include helping lesbians. Will it be less or more pro-gay? She says she is a devout Christian and sends her kids to Aware programme. Ms Lau says she will stand up for 'discriminated' lesbians. Again to much jeers from the audience. Another one-liner. Without elaborating.

5.59pm: Ms Maureen Ong said in an answer to a member,that they have spent about $90,000 in the one month the new exco has been in office. The audience was appalled. The Old Exco stood up and said if the New Exco has agreed to meet them (Old Guard) or approached them for help for the logistics, they could not have spent that kind of money. Even a lawyer from the Old Guard said he could have given free legal advise if asked, and not have AWARE New Exco paying expensive money to Rajah & Tann as legal advisor.

6.38pm: A sex education trainer from the Aware's comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programme said that materials that were supposed to be privy only to trainers were posted on Aware's website. She says homosexuality takes up only 1.5 minutes of the three-hour lesson, compared to 30 minutes on abstinance. Again this showed no respect the New Exco has for confidentiality. They were quizzed why they had installed CCTV in the office when the premise was used to counsel distressed women, and asked why their husbands were allowed to rest and relax in AWARE office as it was a sanctuary for women.

8.10pm: Vote of no confidence on new Aware Exco passed with votes of 2 to 1. The assembly calls for mass resignation of exco. Josie and gang sat frozen in their seats, refusing to comment or move after repeated reminders by Old Exco and audience to step down graciously. So thick-skinned. What were you waiting for, Josie? Waiting for Dr Thio to save you?

8.15pm: Legally the new exco is allowed to stay in office even though vote of no confidence has been passed....., said Aware's legal counsel Gregory Vijayendran. However he also added..... "but it is only courtesy and common sense to resign after losing in a vote of confidence.” To which the Old Exco and crowd said the majority has voted and demanded that the New Exco stepped down.

8.43pm: Audience waiting for new exco president Josie Lau and team to come back on stage to respond whether they will resign or not, following no confidence vote on them. The crowd has been waiting for about 30 minutes for their reappearance to state their stand, yet they did not appear.

8.47pm: "I declare by their conduct they have resigned," declared former president of Aware, Ms Braema Mathi. New exco has made no appearance since vote count was made known. The crowd cheered and clapped.

8.51pm: Event organiser said new exco president Josie Lau and committee members are coming back shortly. Old guard exco says demand they return by 8.50pm or assembly will pass motion to remove the new team. Still they did not showed up, we waited and waited, thought they had disappeared in disgrace altogether.

8.59pm: Old exco proposed motion to remove Ms Josie Lau's exco. This was passed with two objections (out of the 1400+). It now wants to elect a new exco - position for position.

9.05pm: Ex-Aware president Dana Lam is nominated new President, Chew I Jin is vice-president, honorary secretary is Yap Chang Wi, Assistant Honorary Secretary is Corrina Lim, honorary treasurer is Tan Ju Hin, and Assistant treasurer is Lim Xiaoyun.

9.14pm: Ms Josie Lau comes on stage to make a statement. "We have decided to graciously step down. We wish Aware all the best." The new team from the Old Exco was elected back to office. Halfway when she appeared, Josie again said "be quiet" rather untactfully. I was wondering for a VP of Marketing in DBS, her PR skills were really shockingly lacking. She said she and her team would step down graciously (oh please, was that a gracious statement after making the crowd wait for 30 minutes?) and declared the meeting closed (again to boos and jeers from the crowd). Josie, you are no longer the President, you have no right to declare anything lah.


I do not know why people of such calibre and extreme staunch beliefs could have infiltrated an innocent NGO like AWARE, with no sense of shame, no leadership qualities, no experience whatsoever. And what spendthrifts they were! The positive part in this whole saga, was I witnessed such wonderful passion and fervour shown by the many Old Guards and members of AWARE, their dedicated work all these years, the support they have garnered and the voices of all women in Singapore were heard tonight. It was a very "high" and shiok feeling being able to witness this momentous event. Much better than a rock concert.

Good Luck, Dana and team! And welcome back!

Another place other than Heaven

Below interview with Ex-President of AWARE, Miss Dana Lam.

I have read the events and articles about the on-going AWARE saga and I am pretty flabbergasted at how a secular, non-profit organisation with a history of 24 years dedicated to helping women, has been subjected to such underhanded, one-sided, lopsided representation, with a new team that has been dodging questions from the media, the public and online netizens.

Why I say it was under-handed?

1. Religion
Almost all the members in the new Exco team are Christians AND attending the SAME church. Is it so much of a coincidence? Even their "feminist mentor" Dr Thio Su Mien has admitted she 'encouraged' the new President (who is also her relative) and other members of her church to join AWARE and to throw out the current team. I am not against Christians, but in all forms of representations, particularly in our multi-racial, multi-cultural, cosmopolitan country like Singapore, we have to live with and accommodate other religions and beliefs. Even our government and many corporate /non-corporate organisations always ensure there is rightful representation from all different sectors /people /religions. Even more so since AWARE is not a religious organisation.

Please respect non-Christians and other minorities.

2. Homosexuality
This is the very topic and possibly only one topic (excuse) that the new team has been harping on to throw out the old team. What about the other objectives that have been achieved but conveniently ignored by the new team? (I went to the AWARE website and isn't it ridiculous that the sections under "Past Programmes" and "Past Research" have been taken out and missing). They claimed the old team has deviated from their objectives by promoting homosexuality or lesbianism in the more than 100 schools which participated in the sex education program. The MOE (Ministry of Education) has replied that there was no negative feedback to the programs and the content taught was within guidelines. Please, the program was more of teaching the awareness of sex and the importance of safe sex and the likes, and not homosexuality focused. Social norms (and it seems the Christians in the AWARE new team) may not condone nor accept homosexuals but can they pretend that such people do not exist? I know of some Christians who are gays and lesbians too. Isn't that ironic? Turning a blind eye to them is not going to solve the problem (since they think it is a "problem" and something negative), even through the teaching of religion. If you can't accept them, can you ignore them? Why should they be condemned? Jesus did not treat the lepers as transparent. He did not turn them away but healed them instead.

Please respect others who seem "abnormal" to you and their choices.

3. Silence Is Golden?
The new team has faced an arduous task since assuming their new roles less than a month ago, because there were just too many questions people were asking and the new team has been dodging. Having the calibre according to your experience/ qualifications to enter a respectable organisation legally, is this the way you respond to criticisms? You orchestrated a takeover and then say you chose to remain silent and did not have time to settle down to proper work because of the intense media criticisms and death threats? How credible are you then, if you refused to speak up and chose to remain questionable (sneaky) in your actions?

Please respect those who made AWARE possible, the general public and even your supporters.

4. Venue
This is a small matter but then, it again sparked off fury. The venue of the EGM on 2 May was supposed to be held in Singapore Expo, till people discovered there was also a huge church conference happening at the same place, in which their AWARE new team's church is also participating. Another coincidence. Someone even complained that the entire church congregation could "conveniently hop over next door" to vote for their "sisters" in the new team. Now police has to step in and the venue has been changed to Suntec instead. When asked, AWARE new team declined comment and claimed they left it (the venue) to their event management company. Please. Double Please.

Sad as it is, this whole saga seemed to have merged into a war between Christians and non-Christians (although there were many Christians who have voiced out their concerns with the takeover as well as the image of Christians that have been portrayed). Even the umbrella Christian body here, the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) did not condone churches getting involved in the AWARE case.

I am not against Christians. I have many Christian friends. I have been in Christian schools all my life and studied the Bible as a subject as well as during chapels. Although I chose to be a Buddhist, I am taught to be accommodating to all other religions, and not to be exclusive, nor forced my beliefs onto others who were not. This is because different people have different karma, they have different gurus or masters or Gods whom they will listen to, different fates. If someone does not share the same religion as you, does not mean they (the other religions) don't exist. You can preach to them, they too have the right not to accept. But that doesn't make your religion "superior" than theirs. Don't shove your beliefs down people's throats. That doesn't mean that they are sinners. Well, if I can't go to Heaven doesn't not mean I am going to Hell. There is another place we Buddhists know - Pureland (and we have to work very hard to get there).

To quote Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in his notes, 'Suggestions to AWARE', he said: "I hope we will bear these three points in mind: - don't let a single polarising issue hijack the agenda, keep religion above petty politics and create a representative coalition (ensure your group has representation from all the different streams and segments that constitute Singapore)".

To this, I would like to add... the new team has failed on all 3 counts.

Dalai Lama: "All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. All agree that it is very important and worthwhile to make a strong effort to serve human society. To do this, it is important that we understand each other. In the past, due to narrow-mindedness and other factors, there has sometimes been discord between religious groups. This should not happen again. If we look deeply into the value of a religion in the context of the worldwide situation, we can easily transcend these unfortunate happenings. For there are many areas of common ground on which we can have harmony. Let us just be side by side- helping, respecting, and understanding each other - in common effort to serve humankind. The aim of human society must be the compassionate betterment of human beings."

Buddha: "Hatred do not ever cease in this world by hating, but by love; this is an eternal truth... Overcome anger by love. Overcome evil by good. Overcome the miser by giving. Overcome the liar by truth."

Jesus: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. From anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again."

(Jesus and Buddha should have been sworn brothers).

I do not know the outcome of tomorrow's EGM. But I hope and pray that justice prevails and the right people with good sense will take the helm in continuing the good work of AWARE.