Alice Cheong

A statement has been issued by the New AWARE Team. No reasons has been provided for the sudden take-over. There is no concrete measurable plans. The press release only contains high level description such as:

1. wishes to remember and honours the work of past Aware members (How? What actions are they going to take? By their sudden take-over of AWARE committee?)
2. intends to build on the solid foundations laid by the founders of Aware (Intends. Intention? Is this what the new group is after?)
3. continue to promote the participation of women (How?)
   
4. goals remains to bring about full equality of the sexes (How? Any conflict with point 8?)
   
5. build on existing advocacy, research (eg. attitude and policies towards singles) and education to empower women (How?)
   
6. seek to promote the role of women in politics and public life (How?)
7. seek to empower women to be leaders in our society (How?)
8. seek to collaborate and align Aware with other women’s organisations (Can one align Aware with other women’s organisations while goals remains?)
9. aims to empower women who have been retrenched and equip them with new skills (The only 1 statement that is supported with a plan to work with training agencies. Wait. The existing AWARE had already been conducting similar courses. So, what’s new? The packaging, and getting external training agencies to do the work? With the only planned work done by external party, what is this new committee going to work on? Releasing press release?)

Wishes. Seek. Hide and Seek? No comments. Aims. Aim to sub-out the only defined work?

In short, nothing is promised, except to sub-out the only defined work. Nice one. I do not mind being in such a committee. No need to work, got nice title, and can leverage on the title to do anything I wish to. Contact me if anyone wishes me to run for such a nice committee.

Back to the topic. This new group has the ability to plan for 3 months to take over AWARE, are “hail from diverse professional backgrounds, drawn from the business, banking, finance, legal, education, management, human resource and social service sectors”, but is (1) unable to comment, (2) unable to release a press release till more than 2 weeks after the AGM, and (3) do not have any concrete measurable plan to carry AWARE forward. Ability? Or Inability? I have high expectation after such a coordinated take-over.

Straits Times 16 Apr 2009

THIS is the statement issued by the new team at Aware shortly after midnight. It included an updated list of the executive committee, but did not provide any details about the women in charge:

‘Aware, Singapore’s leading women’s advocacy organisation, is delighted to announce that its new president is Ms Josie Lau. She is joined by a dynamic, fresh and committed group of women forming the executive committee, who hail from diverse professional backgrounds drawn from the business, banking, finance, legal, education, management, human resource and social service sectors.

2009 marks the jubilee of our nation (50 years of self-government). In this period, the cause of women has made many great strides in many respects. The new team at Aware wishes to remember and honour the work of past Aware members for their vision and endeavours to advance the cause of women in all areas of society through advocacy and community work.

The new team intends to build on the solid foundations laid by the founders of Aware and will continue to promote the participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of our society. The goal remains to bring about full equality of the sexes and to end all forms of discrimination against women.

Aware will build on existing advocacy, research (eg. attitude and policies towards singles) and education to empower women to deal with various forms of discrimination, raise their awareness of rights and responsibilities, and promote their welfare in tandem with the standards in the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw). In 1995, Singapore became a party to Cedaw which contains benchmarks against which to measure the elimination of discrimination against women on a national basis.

Singapore has made much progress in areas like education and health but can do better in other respects. In particular, the new team will seek to promote the role of women in politics and public life as Article 7 of Cedaw affirms. We endorse the Cedaw committee recommendation that women’s participation in public life should reach a minimum of 30 per cent to 35 per cent, sharing the conviction that this will revitalise political and public life.

The new team will, as a paramount objective, seek to empower women to be leaders in our society, in politics, business, the professions and in all areas of endeavour which will benefit our nation.

President Josie Lau says: ‘In these challenging times, the new team will actively seek to collaborate and align Aware with other women’s organisations with outreach to girls and women who are affected by the current economic downturn.

‘The new team aims to empower women who have been retrenched and equip them with new skills. In this context, we will work with training agencies and launch a series of programmes of practical assistance, such as grooming, budgeting, finance and debt management, career planning and management of change. We will continue to provide emotional, psychological or legal support for women.’

We call on all women of Singapore to rise to the challenge of taking on leadership roles in our nation. We invite volunteers to help make Aware a positive agent of change for the beneficial transformation of our society, where all people, regardless of race, religion or sex, are valued and have a place under the sun.’

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.