The following are the full answers to the written questions put to Dana Lam by I-S Magazine for their June 12 article. Dana is President of AWARE.
Dana
Will you be making changes to your constitution to prevent a repeat of a backdoor takeover?
YES. We are looking into tightening processes to ensure whoever is standing for election will have at least done some groundwork and has some knowledge of what is to be AWARE.
There is also a sizeable groundswell of opinion that some of your policies are out of step of with Singapore’s societal values. What do you say about that? And what are you doing about such perceptions?
Our programmes and policies are guided by the principles of gender equality for all. In the past 24 years we have successfully lobbied for the removal of the quota on women entering medical school, for equal medical benefits in the civil service, for protection against spousal violence and the rights of children born to Singapore women with foreign spouses.
We have contributed research papers on the experiences in our schools, on population issues and, on aging in Singapore among others. Ultimately, we are for a gender equal society where women have equal opportunity, choices and responsibilities with men.
If this is against Singapore values, what can I say? But, I would like to think we live in a more compassionate and reasoned society than our detractors appear to imply. I don’t think of it as being conservative or liberal. You can be conservative and still be compassionate and reasoned. You can be liberal and still be reasoned and compassionate, can’t you?
How did last Saturday’s “touch-base” with new members go? How many actually turned up? What events did you guys have?
We had over 20 people. Among them was an 18 year old college student who has volunteered her time during this June break. She said she was moved by the discovery that she didn’t have to fight for what are her rights today because they had been fought for her. We also heard AWARE has gone up in ‘cool’ factor among younger women! That is good to know. I think the best thing from May 2 is how it gave women and men a very real experience of what it is like to be counted.
Will you use this new mandate to try to build more tolerance and openness in other areas of Singapore life – not just gender equality but also racial and religious equality.
Our constitution is women specific. Although, I would say tolerance -non discrimination – is implicit in the core values of Trust, Respect and Choices for all women.
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