ASIA!

The AWARE Extraordinary General Meeting

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  Close to 2,000 votes were cast for three separate ballots. Auditors Deloitte and Touche were engaged, with two scrutineers employed for each of the 18 boxes. At the AGM where the committee was electing into office, voting was carried out by hand and counted by president Josie Lau's own husband.
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  Several veterans of AWARE, including founding member Margaret Thomas (in blue) and Constance Singam (in green) turned up to oppose the new committee. Under these so-called “Old Guard”,  AWARE has become internationally-recognised as the foremost women's rights organisation in Singapore.
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  For the entire meeting, Josie Lau and her committee of less than a month sat with hardly anyone to back them up, apart from Thio. Finally, they agreed to accept the outcome of the ballot and step down.

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  The “old guards” of AWARE embraced one another in an emotional moment when it became apparent that they had succeeded in defending the ideals by which they set up the organisation.
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  The “old guards” of AWARE embraced one another in an emotional moment when it became apparent that they had succeeded in defending the ideals by which they set up the organisation.
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  Distinguished by their red t-shirts, supporters of the committee sat defeated.

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  The new committee had less than ten people who stood up to speak up for them. One of them was the self-styled “Feminist Mentor”, lawyer Thio Su Mien. She was dubbed by local media as the leader of what many accuse to be a “coup” to take over AWARE leadership by the new committee. She is also related to Josie Lau, president of the new committee by marriage.
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  More than 3,000 members attended the Extraordinary General Meeting of AWARE, Singapore's foremost women's rights movement, and it took well over an hour for those present to register their attendance.
  
  
  The new executive committee was facing a vote of no confidence, less than a month after taking office. Their post-election behaviour led to accusations that they were incapable of leading the group and were introducing a fundamentalist Christian agenda to a secular organisation.
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  The auditorium broke out into cheers when the results of the vote were announced.

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  The meeting waited for more than three hours for all the votes to be tallied. The man in the corner is sporting a red shirt in support of the new committee. It reads, “Pro Woman, Pro Family, Pro Singapore”, language reminiscent of  slogans used by neoconservative Americans groups.
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  Local celebrity Irene Ang was just one of the long stream of people, who stood in lined for their turn at their microphone, to question the motives and intentions of the new committee.
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  The new committee had less than ten people who stood up to speak up for them. One of them was the self-styled “Feminist Mentor”, lawyer Thio Su Mien. She was dubbed by local media as the leader of what many accuse to be a “coup” to take over AWARE leadership by the new committee. She is also related to Josie Lau, president of the new committee by marriage.
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  The new committee had less than ten people who stood up to speak up for them. One of them was the self-styled “Feminist Mentor”, lawyer Thio Su Mien. She was dubbed by local media as the leader of what many accuse to be a “coup” to take over AWARE leadership by the new committee. She is also related to Josie Lau, president of the new committee by marriage.
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  President of the new committee Josie Lau was often times forced to call on security to help her control the assembly. The committee tried to throw out dissenters, to the jeers of the meeting.
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  Placards were handed out by the old guards to those attending the EGM. 

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  Thio Su Mien in the foreground, in the face of defeat.