Take A Stand

Someone very close to me got a earful from me yesterday when he began dismissing the entire AWARE hijack/takeover/saga as an overall petty matter, of no real consequence & of not real public importance. What particularly annoyed me was the fact that he had not bothered to make any inquiries into what AWARE has been doing for the society thus far, who the people they try to assist are & how these would be affected by the new ex-co, their views & their apparent manner of doing things.

It isn't much a secret that Singaporeans haven't had too much experience in matters of social governance, civil society, democracy, civil liberties, rights & activism. In fact, it wouldn't be far-fetched to say that it is very well probable that the majority of us with knowledge on these matters have purely theoretical knowledge. Ours is a society which has labels, such as multi-cultural, multi-religious, conservative-democracy, Asian-values sensitive, Progressive-Communitarian, Asian-Collectivist, & Cautious-Liberal, attached to it. We prefer to err on the side of caution. On the side of the known. On the side of the comfortable.

And here we have a chance to experience democracy. We could choose to sit on the side-lines & enjoy the media frenzy, chat idly of the politicking. We could choose to shut our minds to it, not seek to learn of the issues, & not put our minds to what's at stake here. Or we could choose active citizenry. We could choose active participation in civil society. We could choose to take a stand & make it known.

The Petition

Whether you're male or female.
Whether you're a member or not.
Whether you're here or abroad.

If you believe in AWARE & all that it stands for
Sign the AWARE Petition here.
Make your stance know.

Decided

The Last Straw

Thanks for that Eugene. That totally helped me make up my mind.

AWAREness

I haven't decided whether to join up & actively participate in the EOGM, or to stay out of it, althought the latter would definitely not be for apathy or disregard.

I think I should join up & actively participate becuase I don't approve of the new ExCo's silence as to their values, their agenda & their reasons for their takeover strategy. I'm also particularly disapproving of their decision to fire Ms Braema Mathi as chair of the CEDAW committee, not to mention the manner in which they chose to do so.

That being said, while their takeover strategy may not have been nice by moralistic standards, it doesn't seem to be particularly illegal. And I don't particularly want to be party to the EOGM if it stems from an ulterior motive for the old guard to regain power.

Hence, I'm yet thinking about whether I should join & participate, or stay out of it.

In any case, this is the current situation:
We Are AWARE

The Quarter Century Curse

I think I'm falling victim to The Quarter Century Curse.
Bah.

In Short

In a conversation with The Best Friend regarding my disability to form short sentences:

Me:
is it just that its humanly impossible for me to not be long winded?
The Best Friend:
i think that question speaks for itself
is it just that its humanly impossible for me to not be long winded?
=is it because i'm long winded?
= can i not be so long winded?
= is it possible for me to not be long winded
= is it because i cant summarise?
= why cant i summarise?

Any doubts as to why The Best Friend is a teacher?

Overheard

Guy 1 says to Guy 2:

"Define "Woman"."

Only in Law School.

Court Tours

How interesting :
http://www.thelivingcourthouse.com.sg/index.php

I'm also amused that the Rule of Law topic in the Essay Competition is pretty much the essay title we had for Singapore Constitutional Law Exams last semester in NUS.