May 7, 2009
Volunteer tells why Aware’s EGM turned raucous
I READ Ms Sumiko Tan’s article on Tuesday, ‘More losers than winners’, with dismay. There were some 3,000 people present last Saturday at the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware). Emotions were charged, people came to correct what they thought was a grave injustice to the core principles of Aware, they came to stand up for what they believed in, they came to speak up.

If Ms Tan expected 3,000 people in these emotionally strenuous conditions to sit like sheep and make polite conversation, then obviously she had not thought through the gravity or extent of the event.

I was one of the volunteers for the old guard and my duties included keeping peace in the hall. As volunteers, we were prepped for these conditions and we braced ourselves for extreme ugliness. There was none. There was no violence and considering what we had to put up with, I think the crowd was very well-behaved.

In fact, everything was relatively quiet until Ms Josie Lau’s team started to switch off the microphones on the floor at the start of the meeting to silence the crowd. When one is trying to speak up in a hall as cavernous as the one in Suntec City with no microphone, one is left with little choice but to shout to be heard. Even the new guard’s legal counsel, Mr Gregory Vijayendran, advised that the microphones be left on as this was normal procedure at an EGM.

Ms Lau’s team’s actions set the tone for the EGM, the crowd did not. This ‘unbecoming behaviour’, which Ms Tan described as ‘disquieting and disgusting’, was not ‘bitchiness’ as she claimed. This was passion, which Ms Lau’s supporters did not have, made clear by the fact that most of them left after voting, without even caring about the outcome.

We protested when Mr Siew Kum Hong was told to go and sit with the men at the sidelines. There is nothing in the Constitution that dictates segregation of sexes at an EGM. Furthermore, Mr Siew was acting as legal counsel for the old guard, so he had every right to sit with them.

We protested when Ms Lau started making her president’s address; we had not come to listen to her speech. This was not an ordinary meeting, this was a meeting requisitioned for by 160 Aware members to submit our vote of no confidence in Ms Lau’s exco. Ms Lau proceeded with her speech eventually and we protested again when she brought up a slide that showed the achievements of Aware in the past 24 years, none of which she or her team was responsible for.

We protested when Ms Lau tried to credit the spike in membership from January to last month to her new exco. The spike in membership had nothing to do with the work of her new exco, they had not done any.

We protested when Ms Sally Ang shouted the now infamous ’shut up and sit down’ line into the microphone. We were treated like primary school children from the start and we were not about to allow that to happen.

We protested when Dr Thio Su Mien hijacked the microphone from people who had queued for up to an hour and a half for their chance to speak.

We protested when she started to boast of her credentials and why she deserved the self-named title of ‘Feminist Mentor’. This was the woman who had admitted that she was the driving force behind the March 28 takeover of Aware.

We protested when she demanded that we respect our elders; as a member of the meeting so rightly called out, respect has to be earned.

We protested when it was revealed that $90,000 had been spent by Ms Lau’s team in the past month, a staggering figure that made many of us gasp in shock.

As a volunteer peacekeeper, I found certain times very trying myself, such as when a male supporter of Ms Lau’s team twice referred to the crowd as ‘the congregation’. We were not a congregation, but we were certainly expected by Ms Lau’s team to behave like one.

Pamela Oei (Ms)

http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-1018.htm

I went there to listen (to both sides).

The time with the audience would have been much better spent on shedding light on their ideology and better articulating their vision.

For instance, I was looking forward to an interesting discussion from the panel on stage in response to the request for their ideals on feminism. They could have returned to it at any point in the evening, but did not.

Rather a disproportionate amount of airtime was spent chiding the crowd for disrespect and unruly behaviour.

While it wasn’t straightforward for Dr Thio nor Josie and team to speak without stirring emotions, they did have some airtime and certainly less technical problems with their microphone.

You say you are ‘proud of Singaporean women’. The behavior a the EGM was neither educated nor sophisticated. It was herd-mentality grounded upon schadenfreude. Nothing to be proud about.

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Hi lijing,

Either you have mistaken what I have said, or you have read too much into its meaning that you totally missed the point.

The point was that some people can perceive those behaviours as hooligan-like. Others can also perceive it as a normal reaction which makes sense since not only were the audience being treated with an authoritarian attitude, they were being shouted at rudely with “Shut up and sit down!”. Whether to call it hooligan-like behaviours or normal reactions, is based on what you personally believe in that’s all.

There is no right or wrong either, since those who support Josie and friends will naturally label them as hooligan-like behaviours and undermine the supporters’ actions. As for others, they call it a normal reaction because honestly speaking, there were very little reasons for the supporters not to defend themselves and voice out their displeasure in that kind of circumstance.

Let’s also be realistic and consider the setting for EGM. It was kind of like a showdown between the two parties. Of course emotions will run high among the supporters and for the both parties. Likewise, you can’t possibly expect everyone to graciously chat with each other over a cup of tea and biscuits, when so many unpleasant things happened before and during the EGM, right?

So the continuous emphasis about the supporters’ behaviours as hooligan-like, to me personally, is as good as making a mountain out of a molehill. The idea that Josie did not have a chance to speak, that’s why Sally shouted is even more preposterous. They had an entire month to speak up and yet, they spent it on doing only petty things. Anyway, Josie laid down the rules that every individual member will have 3 minutes to address to the EGM, and she exceeded her 3 minutes when she had a chance to speak, so one of the old guards reminded her, that’s when Sally Ang started shouting.

And on the contrary to what you think, I feel that the supporters did a great job presenting their case at the EGM. Have you not seen some of the videos showing the audience presenting their speech, with wits and passion? How beautiful those moments were.

Oh never mind, you probably won’t understand what I am talking about anyway. Since people see things differently. Just like two women were locked up in a cage hanging in the air in a forest. One lady looked up and saw the shining stars while the other looked down and could only see the dirty mud… =)

Having a vote in their hand, they have a chance and the right to dictate who they want to support, why the need to boo and bawl at? Only to show to the public that they cannot manage their behavior, can’t control anger, has no EQ?

If AWARE is professional, they ought to have integrity & social responsibility in terms of what they are showing and demonstrating to the public.

Now, about the supporters of the old exco, I do wonder if anyone find it scary from the way they have behaved at the EGM and all the other things they did prior to 2 May? Things such as death threats, loud and nasty online bashing against Josie & team, boycotting DBS, names-calling, votes-buying, shouting and bawling at the EGM…, if AWARE is going to be made up of members who do not appreciate cordiality and manners, I do not think AWARE is earning any respect.

To me, bad people are usually more suspicious, more sensitive, more defensive and ever ready to war.

When one did not do anything bad, one don’t need to be suspicious of other people’s intent when others haven’t even lift a finger, simply rising an eyebrow will set an evil- heart on its nerves.

Bad people also tends to over-react whenever there is a slight sniff of rat, they are ever prepared with loads of defensive gears and also ready to start a war anytime should they feel that their position is in any form of threat.

The good always believe that it is never too late to fight back a justice. Never in a need of hurry to proof anything, the truth will be out. The good sometimes have to tolerate bullies until the right day comes, and if the right day will never come, at least the soul is at peace with its dignity.

All the new members who have joined recently just to add up to the vote digits are good for head counting only? What are they going to contribute to the society after the EGM? Before this saga, where are they? Why didn’t they join AWARE if they have true interest to work on woman issues here?

How do you automatically assume that ‘Josie never had anything to say in the first place’ given that she never had a chance to say anything?

You shouldn’t attempt to mind-read.

To Alwin,

Why is a stealthy takeover not democratic and fair if it is in accordance with the rules? There is a difference between moral perfection and democracy.

From your other replies, you also seem to have a marked preference for chest-thumping behavior. I don’t think anyone is a crybaby for wanting a more civilised discussion.

To Someone,

You seem to be saying that 2 wrongs make a right. Just because Sally Ang was rude, doesn’t mean the hooliganism was justified or even excused. And you should ask yourself why Sally Ang lost control in the first place – because Josie Lau couldn’t get to speak.

You say you are ‘proud of Singaporean women’. The behavior a the EGM was neither educated nor sophisticated. It was herd-mentality grounded upon schadenfreude. Nothing to be proud about.