For a pithy tongue & cheek summary of The Aware Saga, you can do no better than The Economist:
Taken unawares
May 7th 2009 | SINGAPORE
From The Economist print editionLiberals rally to take on the Christian right
A BLOODLESS coup instigated by a septuagenarian “feminist mentor”; a death threat sent to the new president’s husband by a self-proclaimed “jihadist sleeper”; a 3,000-person showdown. The tiny world of Singapore’s usually timid NGOs has never seen anything like it.
In late March a secretive group of conservative Chinese Christian ladies surreptitiously took over the executive council of AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research), an advocacy group that has done much to promote women’s rights. Half of the new council attend the same church. They were jolted into action by AWARE’s alleged pro-gay agenda, particularly in sex-education courses taught at some schools. “Are we going to have an entire generation of lesbians?” bemoaned Thio Su Mien, their 71-year old matriarch.
Ms Thio’s disciples snatched control from a group of liberals who had served AWARE for years. The conservative new council and the liberal old guard traded barbs, exposing an ideological divide. Critics questioned the new lot’s shady tactics as well as their religious motives.
And so the old guard tabled a no-confidence motion, forcing an extraordinary general meeting. Ahead of it, politicians called for tolerance. And the new council’s pastor, Derek Hong, tried to mobilise support from the pulpit. Rebuked by leaders from a number of religions, he later apologised.
But the damage was done. At the meeting on May 2nd, the new council lost the vote and resigned. The question is why it staged the ill-fated raid in the first place. According to Alex Au, an online commentator, the Christian right will tend to use stealth to achieve its goals, because the discussion of religion is taboo in Singapore. They do not have well-established channels of discourse.
Yet the manner in which this conflict was resolved—through reasoned debate, without government intervention—is reason to cheer, says Braema Mathi, a former AWARE president. On May 7th, however, the government announced that AWARE’s programmes in schools did not conform in all respects to its guidelines and would be suspended.
Mr Au rejoices that the episode saw more people involve themselves in important issues. They are still, however, in a minority. In a survey, 70% of those polled said they did not care about what is going on at AWARE. But then, with Singapore’s trade-dependent economy facing its worst recession in history, most people have more prosaic worries.
The action thus the reaction! The cause thus the effect! It is just a common sense of reflective mirror! The sharpness of a mirror depending upon its cleanliness & clarity of images which is neither inside or outside of the mirror! It comes & goes in a flash & all phenomena is just like a ‘rainbow’ from a naked single beam of natural ray. Let’s walk the middle path or middle way with moderation of attitude & approach in our living lives in our secular society. Wonderful music can only played with beautiful sound upon neither too tight nor too loose strings. No matter how good a person is there are always some people will say she/he is bad & similiarly no matter how bad a person is there are always some people will say she/he is good.
It is clearly MOE had been dragged into AWARE internal affairs! It is real ashamed that some group in the DR Thio pro-family concepts had been blinded by race/religion to fight for their own comforts or ideologies in the name of GOD! The spark of all arising phenomena was a grave mistake or weakest linkage right from the start in the first place because of its double images of TRUST RESPECT & CHOICE being abused by those involved within AWARE which caught unaware of the evil intention in leadership control!