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.