AWARE Saga (Part 1)

This is the first of my 2 unselected letter to the Straits Times Forum

I would like to share my perspective surrounding the recent AWARE saga.

It seems to me that AWARE has been caught up, “blissfully” unaware, in the battle between conservatives and liberals till now. Whatever good works AWARE had done for gender equality in the past 25 years have been hijacked by 2 fringe issues – homosexuality and the approach to sex education.

Whether because of its inclusivity, liberalism or camaraderie, AWARE has thrown its weight, back in 2006/2007, with local NGOs such as Action for Aids, Free Community Church and People Like Us (PLU) to campaign actively for the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code. Former AWARE President, Tan Joo Hymn, said then, “how consenting adults choose to express their sexuality in private should not be a concern of the state… we should be mature enough not to pry into the intimate behaviours of consenting adults”.

Similarly, in the area of sex education, AWARE’s position has been to adopt a “Comprehensive Sexuality Education” (CSE) rather than a pure abstinence approach for teens. Former AWARE President, Constance Singam, said that CSE was to “equip young women aged 12-19 with the knowledge and skills to make healthy decisions about their lives”.

Mr Ho Chi Sam summarised this most succinctly in his online ST Forum letter (14 Apr 09) when he reduced the AWARE saga to these 2 fringe issues.

The new AWARE EXCO, whatever their motives and methods, probably felt that AWARE should not allow itself to be hijacked by these fringe issues and sought, through existing AWARE constitutional processes, to campaign for the society’s leadership and re-focus the organisation back to its original vision of “gender equality for all”.

While former AWARE President, Dana Lim, could state that “ AWARE is not about whether we are for or against Christianity; AWARE is not about whether we are for or against homosexuality”, its public stand has stated unequivocally that AWARE is for homosexuality and AWARE is against what Christianity stands for.

However the AWARE saga pans out, the damage to the society has been done. The Old Guard could wrestle AWARE back from the Young Turks but the Old Guard would need to convince Singaporeans that AWARE have the wider interests of women at the heart of their mission and not just on these fringe issues.