64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi

I came across the website below while scanning through my RSS news feeds and thought that I should spread the word about it.

64 Words for Aung San Suu Kyi

This website is a "site where you can leave a message of support for Burma's imprisoned democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi" and which "want to gather thousand's of messages by her 64th Birthday, June 19th 2009".

This website "aims to demonstrate the scale of outrage over her continued detention by encouraging high profile individuals and the public around the world to write a 64 word message, a “64”, that will be delivered on Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday on June 19th".

The separation of religion and state is to protect them from one another...

On 26th May 2009, Professor Thio Li-Ann, speaking in Parliament, made a speech, peppered with quotes from various famous historical figures and sources, analysing what she sees as being Singapore's model of secularism and the interaction between religion and state in Singapore.

In that speech, Professor Thio, citing Matthew 22:21, remarked that the separation of religion and state was implemented to allow individuals to "enjoy freedom from state interference in matters pertaining to the worship of God". In other words, it would seem that, to Professor Thio, the separation of religion and state was to protect religion from the state.

I agree that the religious freedom of individuals and religion should be insulated from state intervention and/or interference.

However, although I may not be as well-learned as Professor Thio (and neither am I accustomed to consuming Nescafe coffee paired with chocolate croissants), it would seem to me that the separation of religion and state serves to not only protect religion from the state but also the other way around i.e. to protect the state from religion. For while it is important to protect religion from the state, it is just as important, if not vital and essential, for the state to be protected from religion.

In conclusion, it is my "untutored" (to borrow a word used by Professor Thio in her speech to describe the views of those who "denigrate religion as foolish superstition") opinion that the separation of state and religion is to protect them from one another and not only one from the other.

P.S.

I find it somewhat comforting that, in a line not included in the edited version of her speech published by The Straits Times but which could be found in the CNA video of her speech, Professor Thio noted that "Theocracies are anti-democratic and oppressively homogenising, especially in plural societies like ours".

P.P.S.

For those of you all interested to read more about secularism, you all may want to refer to here.

Opposition MPs -- "Fix" them or have more of them?

"Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam [See Tong], (we have) Steve Chia. So we can deal with them. It's okay. But suppose you have a Parliament with 10, 15, 20 opposition members out of 80. Then, instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time -- I have to spend all my time -- thinking what's the right way to fix them, what's the right way to buy my own supporters over, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?" -- PM Lee Hsien Loong, speaking at a lunchtime election rally on 3/5/2006


"I think there are many benefits to doing this [i.e. having more Opposition and Nominated MPs in Parliament]. It will generate more robust debate, it will improve policy formulation, it will expose PAP MPs to the cut-and-thrust of the debate and it will demonstrate what the opposition can and cannot do.

Most importantly, changes like these will keep Parliament in sync with the concerns and aspirations of Singaporeans and strengthen the role of Parliament as the key democratic institution where important national issues are deliberated and decided" -- PM Lee Hsien Hoong, speaking in Parliament about proposed changes to Singapore's electoral system on 27/5/2009

May 31st -- "In Unity for Her Liberty"

Earlier today, I received an invitation through my Facebook inbox for "In Unity for Her Liberty" which is a peace vigil, organised by MARUAH, for the freedom of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The details for the event can be found below.

When: May 31st 2009 (Sunday), 1700-1900h

Where: Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park

Attire: Yellow

For more details, please refer to here.

A cautionary tale about Facebook

With there being so much buzz recently over Facebook as a social networking tool for not only individuals but also organisations, such as political parties, businesses and NGOs, I felt that I ought to write about my recent unpleasant experience with Facebook as perhaps a cautionary tale to other Facebook users out there.

To start from the beginning, I think I have been a user of Facebook for almost 3 years and have, since the middle of last year, been routinely using the "Share on Facebook" feature to share interesting links and news articles that I come across in my daily internet surfing and reading of RSS news feeds.

However, on 22/4/2009, halfway through my usual usage of Facebook, I received a warning (both within the Facebook page and an email) from Facebook that I have exceeded limits which it has put in place for the "Share on Facebook" feature (and other Facebook features) and that I will be temporarily be blocked from using that feature. I was somewhat puzzled and surprised (in a negative way) when I received this warning for two main reasons: one, I have been merely routinely using Facebook as I always have when I received the warning and two, Facebook did not and continues to not state clearly what these "limits" are and how I supposedly exceeded them.

I wrote an email to Facebook enquiring about the warning and block. And they sent me back an automated response that they have received my enquiry and should get back to me soon.

Things however got worse the next day (23/4/2009) when I was half-way through my usual usage of Facebook, I was suddenly unceremoniously kicked out of my account and when I tried to log in again, I was informed that my account has been disabled because Facebook suspects that I have been "misusing" my account for spamming.

I was thus understandably shocked at this, since I am most certain that I have not been "misusing" my Facebook account to spam anybody. With no clear indication from the FAQ section that Facebook directed me to on how I will be able to appeal against their disabling of my account, I proceeded to use Google to search for help. And to my amazement, it seems that my case was not an isolated one; just try searching on Google "Facebook disabled", click on the first link provided and you all will see what I mean.

Common complaints that I managed to garner through my scanning through of the comments made by the numerous individuals who had their accounts disabled by Facebook are as follow.

One, Facebook, citing technical and security reasons, refuse to divulge what are the limits that they have put in place. They also refuse to reveal what exactly are the actions that would cause an individual's account to be disabled. Transparency does not seem to be a key priority of Facebook.

Two, Facebook seems to have a "guilty till proven innocent" disabling policy, in that it would seem that they disable accounts rather indiscriminately and arbitrarily without providing a chance for individuals to clarify matters or defend themselves before their accounts get disabled. It does not help that they seem to disable individuals' accounts for the slightest sign that these accounts are being misused.

Three, Facebook seem to be very slow in responding to appeals from individuals who feel that their accounts were wrongfully disabled. I, for one, can attest to that. It does not help that even when they do respond, they resort to using default responses and not give any sort of details about how long they may take to review your case.

Four, it is rather scary that Facebook can so easily wipe out everything an individual may have "invested" into his/her Facebook account.

Anyway, through my research through Google, I managed to find several email addresses that people may email Facebook at to appeal against wrongful disabling of their accounts; on that note, I would like to say that I think the only working emails addresses are: disabled@facebook.com, appeals@facebook.com, abuse@facebook.com and warning@facebook.com.

I thus emailed these addresses several times over a period of a few weeks to appeal against the wrongful disabling of my Facebook account. And as I said above, they were slow to respond to my emails and even when they do respond, their responses are rather ambiguous.

Getting somewhat annoyed and impatient, I filed a complaint through the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on 15/5/2009 about Facebook's wrongful disabling of my account and their slowness in responding to & reviewing my case.

Fortunately, my patience borne me out and finally, after almost 4 weeks, I received an email earlier today from Facebook that after reviewing my case, they decided to reactivate my account (I wonder if my complaint to the BBB helped to speed things up). They however continue to make it sound as though I was the one at fault and warned me to "refrain from sending the same message or repeating the same post, as further violations of our Terms will result in your account being permanently disabled". Again, allow me to say that I have not been "sending the same message or repeating the same post" when I got my account disabled.

In conclusion, I must say that I am somewhat glad to get my account reactivated but I am nonetheless still somewhat peeved that it was even disabled in the first place and that it took so long for it to be reactivated.

Hence, in light of the above, I guess I will have caution you all to be careful when using Facebook and be aware that they can easily disable your account with little or no warning. In short, caveat emptor.

Lighthouse and Crossroads

Earlier today, I watched the video and read the transcript of a recent speech made by U.S. President Barack Obama at the commencement ceremony of the University of Notre Dame.

And although President Obama was, in his speech, speaking specifically about the issue of abortion and to a mainly American Christian/Catholic audience, it would seem to me that parts of his speech are relevant to Singapore, especially in light of the contentious AWARE saga; of course, these parts of the speech are also universally applicable.

The parts of the speech I found relevant are (emphasis mine):

“The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm. The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in an admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships can be relieved.

The question, then -- the question then is how do we work through these conflicts? Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without, as Father John said, demonising those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?”

“Because when we do that -- when we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe -- that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.”

“Now, understand -- understand, Class of 2009, I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it -- indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory -- the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.”

“And in this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. In other words, stand as a lighthouse.

But remember, too, that you can be a crossroads. Remember, too, that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It’s the belief in things not seen. It’s beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us. And those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

And this doubt should not push us away our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open and curious and eager to continue the spiritual and moral debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us even as we cling to our faith to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works and charity and kindness and service that moves hearts and minds.

For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It’s no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule -- the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. The call to serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth.”

“I will not pretend that the challenges we face will be easy, or that the answers will come quickly, or that all our differences and divisions will fade happily away -- because life is not that simple. It never has been.

But as you leave here today, remember the lessons of Cardinal Bernardin, of Father Hesburgh, of movements for change both large and small. Remember that each of us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God, has the grace to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we all seek the same love of family, the same fulfillment of a life well lived.”


For those of you all interested, the video of the speech can be found here while the transcript can be found here.

LHZB interview special with Dr. Thio Su Mien – Part III

“Why is it that everytime someone offers an opposing view to homosexuality, that person will receive death threats or have his/her livelihood threatened? Does this involve the use of politics of fear? Shouldn’t the media be concerned about this? Shouldn’t we be having a regulatory mechanism to ensure objective and fair reporting by the media?” – On the former exco of AWARE and herself receiving death threats during the AWARE saga

“I am very glad that now there are more people discussing about the issue of sex education and desiring a better vetting process to be put in place for sex education in schools. However, I am not sure how the Education Ministry will oversee the matter, as in how will they check on the teachers, who are crucial figures in sex education, who are teaching sex education? This point will need to be clarified.

Originally, the Education Ministry wanted me to produce evidence for my claims about there being parents complaining about sex education. However, the report in the April 24th edition of The Straits Times and my response letter to the Education Ministry have made it clear that I never said I received complaints from parents. Also, after investigations, the Education Ministry has publicly announced that some sex education programmes have contravened its guiding principles. This shows that my accusations were not inaccurate.

What is comforting is that the Education Ministry has decided to examine how it can enhance its vetting process for sex education. We should improve on the transparency and credibility of this process. A supervisory body should also be specially set up to communicate with and consult parents. Also, perhaps the vetting process should include placing relevant information online as a display of transparency?” – On the Education Ministry announcing on June 7th the suspension of sex education programmes provided by external organisations e.g. AWARE after its initial statement that it did not receive any complaints from parents

“The responsibility of a mentor is to nurture and groom them before allowing them to go out to contribute to society; to allow for the continued increase in the numbers of talented individuals. If you do not let young people to serve in leadership roles but do everything by yourself, this will be most inefficient.” – On why she did not personally run for a position on the AWARE exco

“50% of Singapore’s population consists of women; we actually have an abundance of talent. If we are able to have 10 Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office), 50 Professor Chan Heng Chee (Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States) or 100 Olivia Lum (CEO of Hyflux), that will be a great blessing. There are two levels to this: firstly, on the societal level, we will need to help those women at the bottom of the social ladder to improve themselves and for those women who are better off, we will have to let them possess more skills and to inspire them to contribute more to society.

We will have to nurture more women leaders in different fields because CEDAW’s target is to have women have 30-35% representation in different fields. I, with my life experiences, should be able to contribute towards this endeavour.” – On why she encouraged more eligible women to join AWARE

LHZB interview special with Dr. Thio Su Mien – Part II

She originally did not want this interview to be published

This interview with Dr. Thio almost did not get published.

Although she readily agreed to be interviewed one week ago, Dr. Thio later wanted to prevent this interview from being published.

As one of the central figures in the AWARE saga, Dr. Thio felt that Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng’s statement about the government stance on the AWARE saga and call for individual religious groups and secular organisations to be tolerant and exercise restraint already provided a very good conclusion to the AWARE saga. Thus, she did not want this interview to be published lest it stirs up emotions or polarise society.

Eventually, Dr. Thio was convinced to allow this interview to be published. This was because she knew that the focus of this interview will be the family values she espouses. As she said, one week ago, when she agreed to be interviewed: “If you all want to find out my views on family and values, then we may talk. But if you all want to talk about the AWARE saga, then forget about it”.

The interview was conducted at a restaurant in the Botanical Gardens. The day before the interview (6/5/2009), Dr. Thio attended the 150th anniversary dinner and dialogue session with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew organised by the Botanical Gardens; amazed by the beauty of the Botanical Gardens, Dr. Thio wanted us journalists to also experience it.

Dressed in a purple floral top and a long skirt, Dr. Thio looked markedly different and softer from how she looked like during the AWARE saga – serious and dressed in proper business attire. Without wasting any time, Dr. Thio proceeded to, through sharing one story after another, express her staunch belief in the core family values which she seeks to protect.

The first story was the “Chicken Egg” story, a story her daughter, Ms Thio Li-Ann, in conjunction with Mothers’ Day, wrote in The New Paper to express her gratitude towards Dr. Thio.

With regards to this story, Dr. Thio said: “I was in disrepute after the AWARE saga, thus I was very moved by Li-Ann’s use of this story to express her respect and support for me; it also shows that she still remembers the meaning behind the story”.

After the end of World War Two, Dr. Thio, who was then only 7 years of age, was visiting her grandmother’s hometown in Fujian along with her parents and siblings. Her relatives there, although they were very poor, will always present Dr. Thio and her family with a big bowl of noodles with an omelette placed on top. Seeing this, Dr. Thio’s father will remind her and her siblings to finish the noodles as although her relatives were poor, they offered them the best. This childhood lesson about respecting others that Dr. Thio’s father imparted to her was a memorable one to Dr. Thio which she later imparted to her own children.

Dr. Thio said: “My parents each had their own personalities and strengths and it was them who provided me with an environment that shaped my character and value system. Hence, I firmly believe that every child should be able to live and grow up in a family with full parental support. A family headed by a same-sex couple will find it difficult to provide children with a conducive environment to best grow up in”.

For the past 10 years and more, Dr. Thio has been involved in church counselling work and once, a father lamented to her that it is most unfortunate that a small golfing ball can alienate a father from his family. This lamentation by this father also illustrated to Dr. Thio the importance that parents have in their children’s lives and education.

“When my children were about 2 to 3 years old, my husband gave me a set of golfing equipment. I went to play a few rounds of golf but I realised that I was neglecting my children. Thus, I decided to throw the golfing equipment into the storeroom and brought my children out for swimming. In the years which I have been doing family counselling, I have also been encouraging parents to bring their children for swimming or cycling to strengthen the bonds between them and their children; don’t play golf. When it comes to discerning what is truly important, we often make mistakes”.

Witnessing the trends and changes in Europe and North America with regards to the family and gender relations, Dr. Thio was more convinced of the paramount importance of family education and that many societies, including Singapore, are facing challenges to their value systems.

Dr. Thio is especially worried about the erosion of values by a movement, originating in the West, that is challenging people’s belief in the family. And this movement, according to Dr. Thio, aims to “basically redefine the meaning of marriage, to redefine marriage as not only belonging to couples of different sexes but also to same-sex couples. This movement aims to legalise same-sex marriage and to redefine the traditional concept of the family”.

“This is a movement which constantly appeals to people to support it. You can recognise its existence but you cannot allow it to become part of the mainstream. Schools should have sex education but this should be done appropriately to preserve our core values about the family”.

And encouraging eligible women to serve and contribute to society is one way that Dr. Thio has been using to preserve the core values of Singaporean society. As the mentor of Ms Josie Lau and others, she often “nags” at them to be more concerned about society at large and “not to be only interested in fashion and handbags”.

This is basically why she encouraged them to join AWARE.

“We cannot depend on the schools and the government for everything. We all understand the need to seriously learn how to be good reporters and lawyers but this is not the case when it comes to learning how to be a good parent. If parents are only concerned about their children’ academic grades and leave the rest to maids and society to handle, the family and society will collapse”.

In an interview that spanned 2 hours, two-thirds of the time was spent on discussing the importance of maintaining core values. As the interview came to an end, Dr. Thio said to us journalists: “If I had known you all earlier, I would perhaps also encouraged you all to join AWARE”.

[note: the journalists interviewing Dr. Thio are both women]

LHZB interview special with Dr. Thio Su Mien – Part I

Yesterday (17/5/2009), 《联合早报》/Lianhe Zaobao (LHZB) published an interview special with Dr. Thio Su Mien, a self-styled “feminist mentor” who was a central figure in the recent AWARE saga.

For those of you all who are interested to read the interview and can understand Mandarin, the text of the interview may be found here.

As for those of you all who are interested to read the interview but cannot understand Mandarin, I will attempt to translate and reproduce it in English here. However, in light of the fact that the interview special took up an entire newspaper page, I will be splitting up the contents of the interview into three parts/separate blog posts. Part I will be of the main text of the interview, Part II will be of a side story attached to the interview and Part III will be of the quotable quotes by Dr. Thio during the interview.

Okay, that said, I will move on to reproduce the main text of the interview (all the headings and sub-headings were provided in the original text).

“Feminist Mentor” Dr. Thio Su Mien: The “coup” was accidental

The “coup” that occurred at AWARE’s AGM several weeks ago was actually an accident.

At least this was how Dr. Thio Su Mien perceived it.

At the AWARE AGM on March 28th, a twelve-member executive committee (exco) was voted in but the majority of the exco members, including Ms Josie Lau who later took over as president, were new and relatively unknown members. This provoked unease and dissatisfaction amongst the veteran members of AWARE; later, this also sparked a series of tussles between the old guard and new guard of AWARE.

However, Dr. Thio, widely perceived as the one who orchestrated this “coup”, in an interview with this newspaper, claimed that she did not expect the outcome of the AGM elections to result in a new guard taking over as the exco. She also claims that her encouraging of young women to join AWARE was aimed only at injecting new vitality into the organisation and to preserve the core family values of Singaporean society.

According to reports, AWARE’s membership numbers have, in recent years, been declining, reaching a low of 200 members at the end of last year. However, amongst those attending AWARE’s AGM on March 28th, only a minority was long-standing members of AWARE while the majority were new members who joined only shortly before the AGM.

According to Dr. Thio, if the long-standing members of AWARE had all attended the AGM, the new members “may not even have a single chance of winning a position, hence who can we blame for the outcome of the exco elections; even I was not expecting such an outcome”.

In a media report in April, it was revealed that Ms Josie Lau, the new AWARE president, along with another 5 new exco members are from the same church of Church of Our Saviour (COOS) while Dr. Thio is also a member of COOS and a mentor to Ms Lau and company. It was later revealed that Ms Lau is married to Dr. Thio’s nephew. All this were cited as proof of a well-orchestrated “coup” by Dr. Thio.

When reminded of this during the interview, Dr. Thio laughed and said: “If you say that I planned all this, I indeed was the one going around encouraging people I know to join AWARE. But all these people were mobilised at the last moment. Some amongst them did not know one another but only know me; some in fact are not that familiar with me. My purpose was: if you are able to, you should join this organisation and contribute to society”.

She added that if she was indeed the mastermind behind the whole thing, she would not be “as stupid as to find people from the same church”.

“If I really premeditated this, then I would be a real strategist; if so, I should organise a rainbow coalition like them (the old guard of AWARE). However, my thinking was very simple. But now thinking back, I was in fact rather foolish and naïve in my thinking. I never thought that the outcome will be this and that things will get so out of hand”.

On the April 23rd press conference held by the exco headed by Ms Lau, Dr. Thio was present to answer questions on behalf of the exco. At that press conference, Dr. Thio made statements about AWARE’s declining membership numbers, the proposed changes to its constitution to allow for male members to be eligible to vote. Her accusations about AWARE’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme and about it promoting a homosexual lifestyle were also made at that press conference.

The AWARE saga later attracted more attention from outsiders and supporters of the old guard and this was because of Dr. Thio’s confession that she has been the mentor of the exco for several years and was the one who encouraged them to join AWARE. Also, it was revealed through online sources that Dr. Thio had, before the AGM, sent out mass emails criticising the CSE and encouraging people to vote for “reformers who want to be in charge”.

The question is: why didn’t this retired veteran lawyer personally run for a position on the AWARE exco if she was so concerned about the supposed direction the organisation was heading in?

Dr. Thio, who is already 71 years of age, explained that besides her age, another more important reason why she didn’t personally run for an exco position was that she felt that being a mentor, her responsibility was to nurture people who can make contributions to society and not try to glorify herself.

Similarly, it was because of her role as a mentor that Dr. Thio decided that it was necessary for her to present at the April 23rd press conference to defend Ms Lau and company.

Surprised at the anger and emotions at the EOGM

“I originally only planned to speak at the EOGM but when I saw the exco being lambasted, I felt that I have the responsibility, since I was the one who encouraged them to join AWARE and serve the interests of womenfolk and the nation, to be present at the press conference. I did not expect that they will be attacked and, even worse, that their lives, livelihood and businesses will also come under threat.”

The exco originally has no plans to hold a press conference and had wanted to wait till the EOGM to express their views.

“But”, said Dr. Thio, “the media was having a field day with the AWARE saga so we had to hold a press conference to clarify matters”.

Besides being surprised at the “coup”-like outcome of the AGM, Dr. Thio also expressed great surprise at the sudden increase in membership numbers for AWARE and the intensity of the emotions displayed at the EOGM on May 2nd.

During the 7 hours long EOGM, a scene which is perhaps most memorable to those present and those paying close attention to the happenings at the EOGM would be that of Dr. Thio proudly holding up a publication by AWARE to announce that she is on page 73 of the publication. This act was heavily criticised by the supporters of the old guard present at the EOGM. Dr. Thio’s attempts to rein in the noisy crowd by reminding them that they need to respect their elders also provoked a round of jeers.

Reminded about this during the interview, Dr. Thio expressed surprise: “I never thought that on the day of the EOGM, people’s emotions would be so intense, that the atmosphere will be so filled with anger”.

Nothing to be angry about

However, with regards to being unable to finish her speech due to the jeers, Dr. Thio said that there was nothing to be angry about.

“There is no need to be angry. Being angry will be like playing an old record non-stop”. Dr. Thio feels that if an individual is not able to let go, he or she will only cause him/herself to be trapped in the past and not be able to move on.

Hence, even though her remarks of “Please respect your elders” and “I am on page 73” was printed onto slogan t-shirts, Dr. Thio also laughed it off, saying: “This sort of design is quite interesting and can increase the income for the designer; I also want to buy one to take a look”.

As for what her future plans for herself and her “mentees” will be, Dr. Thio said: “Let’s talk about this after I return from a vacation! Perhaps taking a vacation will inspire me. And hopefully, the anger over this saga will dissipate and Josie will be able to continue using her strengths to contribute to society”.

Box story: “Homosexuality is a political movement”

Been keenly aware of the developments in homosexuality in Europe and North America, Dr. Thio firmly believes that there is a political movement promoting homosexuality. And the aims of this movement will include the de-criminalisation of anal sex. This may be witnessed in the attempts by individuals in Singapore to repeal Section 377A of the local Penal Code.

Dr. Thio said: “This is a significant point. Because if once the law is abolished or liberalised, homosexual activists will start to raise issues, such as marriage equality, education equality, and medical equality, to ask for funds from the government.”

In Finland, singles and lesbians are, with government subsidies, able to receive artificial insemination. This, according to Dr. Thio, will thus involve how taxpayers’ money should be used.

Dr. Thio also cited an example from Canada. According to her, there was a case in Canada in which a kindergarten teacher filed a lawsuit against the school management committee, accusing the committee for not including three books with contents about same-sex parents in the syllabus for kindergarten and primary one students. Although parents from different religious backgrounds, e.g. Hinduism, Sikhism, Catholicism and Christianity, supported the school management committee in the Canadian Supreme Court, the school management committee lose the case and had to put the three books into the school library.

A response to Dr. Thio Su Mien’s letter to the ST Forum

If you all read today’s (18/5/2009) edition of the Straits Times (ST), you all would notice that Dr. Thio Su Mien wrote a letter to the ST Forum. In this letter, Dr. Thio, responding to an earlier letter by AWARE president Ms Dana Lam, reiterated her accusations that AWARE’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme promoted homosexuality. She also added the claim that “homosexual activists seeking to impose their values by mainstreaming homosexuality have become a significant chief constituency of AWARE” and this, according to Dr. Thio, was evident from the considerable presence of members from “activist homosexual groups” and “sexually challenged women” amongst the supporters of the old guard of AWARE at its recent EOGM.

Firstly, let me state clearly that I have nothing personal against Dr. Thio. I however am somewhat sceptical about some of the claims she asserted in her letter to the ST Forum.

One, Dr. Thio stated in her letter that it is against the law for AWARE’s CSE manual to state that homosexuality is neutral and normal and that “anal sex can be healthy or neutral with consent and a condom”.

Well, although I may not be as well-versed in Singapore law as Dr. Thio, it is, to the best of my limited legal knowledge, not illegal in Singapore for homosexuality or anal sex to be practised or promoted. I mean, even Section 377A of the local Penal Code only states that it is a criminal act for men to commit “any act of gross indecency with another male person”; nowhere is it stated that homosexuality per se or anal sex is illegal. Even if one includes anal sex as an “act of gross indecency”, it will seem to me that it is technically not illegal for this act to be performed between a consenting male and female couple. I, of course, may be wrong about this so I stand ready to be corrected.

And with regards to Dr. Thio’s claim that the strong presence of “activist homosexual groups” and “sexually challenged women” amongst the supporters of the old guard of AWARE is evidence of AWARE’s “gay agenda”, it would seem to me that this claim is rather questionable.

For one thing, it seem rather odd to me that although there was a wide spectrum of individuals amongst the supporters of the old guard of AWARE, Dr. Thio chooses to focus only on those supporters who she claims to be from “activist homosexual groups” and supposedly are “sexually challenged women”. I mean, if I am not wrong, there were, amongst the supporters of the old guard of AWARE, several individuals who clearly stated that they are either of the same religious faith as Dr. Thio, parents of young children or are not pro-homosexuality but are pro-equity/anti-discrimination. I, for one, am a heterosexual male who is not pro-homosexuality but am pro-equity/anti-discrimination.

Also, even if there was indeed a strong presence of homosexuals and lesbians amongst the supporters of the old guard of AWARE, it would seem to me that this is not necessarily a sign of AWARE having a “gay agenda” or it being infiltrated by “homosexual activists seeking to impose their values by mainstreaming homosexuality”. It could just be a result of the evident anti-homosexuality sentiments expressed by Dr. Thio and the previous AWARE exco headed by Ms Josie Lau causing homosexuals/lesbians to perceive their interests as being threatened, thus pushing them to join AWARE on the side of the old guard in order to protect their interests.

To conclude, although I may or may not be one of those “discerning Singaporeans” that Dr. Thio was attempting to appeal to in her letter, it would seem to me, at least for now, that her claims are perhaps not fully backed by evidence.

ST: "No whale sharks at IR"

Here is a piece of good news for those of you all concerned about Resorts World at Sentosa's (RWS) plans to bring in whale sharks for its planned oceanarium.

According to a Straits Times report today (16/5/2009), RWS, partly in face of public criticism, have decided to abandon its plans to bring in whale sharks.

Pink Dot -- May 16 2009

Google Chrome Shorts

I am not sure how many of you all reading this blog are users of Google Chrome but perhaps the following three short videos about it will entice some of you all to try using it and/or switch to it. Oh yeah, yup, I am a Google Chrome user since it came out of beta.

To learn more about Google Chrome, please refer to here.

To watch more short videos about Google Chrome, please refer to here.

AWARE is saved; It is all over?

Starting from this afternoon, although I really should have been revising for my exams, I cannot help but be engrossed in keeping track of the going-ons at AWARE's EGM through The Online Citizen's (TOC) "live" report.

And I must confess that although I was not expecting things at the EGM to proceed with no dispute whatsoever (in fact, I was expecting that things would be rather heated), I was nonetheless somewhat disturbed by the level of uncivility displayed by members of both camps. It would appear to me, according to the portrayal of events by TOC, that both sides were initially not really abiding by the spirit of this statement attributed to Voltaire: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.

However, fortunately, things eventually did not get too ugly or out of hand. Also, it was good to see that the motion of no confidence was, despite the new AWARE executive committee (exco) not really tabling it on the meeting agenda, voted on by those present at the EGM.

And, of course, it is most fortunate, to me anyway, that the motion of no confidence was passed in favour of the old guard, with an overwhelming majority supporting the motion of no confidence (1,414 votes were casted in support of the motion while 761 votes were against).

Yet, does this necessarily mean that AWARE is saved? Does this mean that the AWARE saga is finally over?

While I am hoping that the answer to the two above questions can be "Yes", I am more inclined to think that the answer will be "No".

I say this in light of the fact that while a motion of no confidence may have been passed against AWARE's new exco, they may perhaps challenge the legality of the motion and thus refuse to step down. [Update: As of 2115h (2/5/2009), the exco headed by Ms Josie Lau, despite initial hesitation and a "disappearing act", has decided to step down and a new (interim?) exco has been voted in]

Also, even if the new exco agrees to abide by the motion of no confidence passed against them and step down, it should be recognised that there is perhaps now a considerable number of new members within AWARE who have joined in support of the new exco. It will not, in my opinion, be too far-fetched to think that these supporters of the new exco will take some form of action. For example, they may attempt to call for another EGM to vote out whoever is taking over as the exco (which I think would most likely be the old guard and/or their supporters).

In addition, it can be observed that the AWARE saga has perhaps stirred up various issues and provoked certain segments of local society. It is most unlikely that these issues will just dissipate and those people who are provoked will just move on. Instead, it is more likely that issues will linger on and those provoked by the AWARE saga will remain provoked. For one thing, if I am not wrong, the investigation by the Ministry of Education into AWARE's Comprehensive Sexuality Education programme is still ongoing.

Hence, in conclusion, I would think that things are not yet fully resolved. I am no prophet but I am predicting that we will see much more drama with regards to and/or provoked by the AWARE saga. Act One of the saga may be over but there are perhaps much more acts that will be unfolding in the days ahead. And I, for one, will be keeping an eye on how things will continue to play out.

Not The End...?

Singapore Blog Awards 2009

For those of you all who are sharp-eyed enough, you all will most probably notice that since a few days ago, I have added the above icon to the right sidebar of this blog.

And the reason why it is there is that a friend of mine (thanks for the nomination, Chillycraps) nominated my blog for the Singapore Blog Awards 2009 and I accepted the nomination. Thus, I am currently a nominee in the "Most Insightful Blog" category.

The finalised list of contestants for each category is however is not out yet. If my blog is in the finalised list, I will, of course, provide updates. So let's wait and see how it goes.