AWARE Incident: Aftermath Thoughts

AWARE's infamous Exco several days back.

The top local news for the last few weeks have not been about Mas Selamat's capture (I may talk about it in the next post) but more on the infamous saga at the Association of Women for Action and Research, better known as Aware.

According to reports, a group of female Christians (apparently from the same church) managed to get voted into the association's exco and began to accuse the Old Guards of drifting from its original purpose. Many members protested against the new leadership and its underhand methods, leading to a executive general meeting at Suntec City which saw the overthrowing of the new exco. There must have been a big celebration that day.

For me, while women issues has not been my area of concern, it's good to note that right wing Christians had failed in their bid to hijack what's otherwise a secular organization with a non-bias approach to women. However, as much it is to justify some cheering about, I guess I will just keep a neutral mood.

I'm not sure about Aware's current stand towards homosexuality but while I strongly uphold that a gay lifestyle is not in God's good intention, I'm definitely not anti-gay. I hope this letter I wrote to Mr Wang years back will clarify my views.

On the other hand, while I respect the zealousness of the Josie Lau exco and its 'feminist mentor', Dr Thio Su Mien, in their values and beliefs, breaking their way into power like religious gestapos hardly deserve any admiration. Not from the majority of Christians here at least.

This is indeed an issue which I present a seemingly contradicting viewpoint on and I guess it's always one of the main dilemmas of being a Christian. Accusation will either be that I'm homophobic or a heretic, not that people can be convinced about my position all the time.

I was just reading Mr Wang's blog by the way when I came across this published letter on one of the post. This guy sounds like he's thinking along the same line as me:

Dear Mr Wang,

I am an avid reader of your blog, and I know, blogs are personal spaces and if I'm not happy I can just leave.

I won't say I am offended by the title of your latest post but, it did strike a raw spot within me. Would you, use 'Thank Allah the Muslims were defeated' if it was the Muslims and not the Christians who did this? Yes, it's hypothetical. I doubt the Muslims in Singapore would.

Also, before I get branded a fundamentalist, I would like you to know that; no, I'm not anti gay. Neither am I pro gay. Finally, I do not think that what Thio did was right, there were better, less hostile methods that could have been employed.

I believe, in a world such as ours, agreeing to disagree is the way forward. You can never ever bring pro choice and pro family together. Two bloody ends of the spectrum and you can argue till the cows come home and you will not have a winner.

Yes, it is a historical day for Singapore. 'Freedom!' some cry. I think it's merely the beginning of a long hard journey, not the end of it.

Again, we agree to disagree. I will continue to read your blog for the many insightful
posts.

A well written piece. And yes, the 'offending latest post' (as mentioned in the letter) can be found here.

I'm quite concern too about the usage of 'Christians' being involved in Mr Wang's recent posts as I thought it may lead to some bias feelings among his readers. Then again, it may just be me being a little judgmental and I can only hope he's sure of what's he doing.

It's time to move on once again.