Pkchukiss – Reality Wine

I followed the live feed from Wayang Party and The Online Citizen on the Association of Women for Action and Research’s extra-ordinary general meeting held today.

Personally, I’m not a religious person; I’m more of a spiritual-meditating kind. And besides that, I’m getting too busy to join in social causes like in the past. But AWARE’s EGM today has gotten me to sit up and take notice, for we are noticing the re-birth of social activism in Singapore.

For quite some time, us Singaporeans labelled as the post-independence generation have been criticised for not being active in pushing for our ideals, working for what we believe in. We’ve not seen the inter-racial riots in the 1950s and 60s exemplifying social extremism; nor have we experienced in person the euphoria of steering our own destiny during the push for Singapore’s self-governance, and subsequent merger into Malaysia in 1963.

In fact, before Internet came to Singapore, the government was complaining that Singaporeans were not speaking up on the issues close to our hearts, and even set-up a Speaker’s Corner. Social activism was limited to participation in niche organisations such as AWARE and SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

However, today we have seen how Singaporeans can mobilise and speak out with one voice against an insidious take-over of a well-known secular organisation, and be able to turn out and show our support for a single, united cause. According to the live reports, more than 2000 new members had signed up since news of the new executive committee’s agenda spread on the Internet. On Twitter, the tag #awaresg has topped the trends lists, and new tweets are still constantly pouring in. Singaporeans have turned up at Suntec City in droves to drive home the message that they do not condone the use of dirty tricks to gain control of an organisation.

I believe that it is a positive day for social activism in Singapore. But that’s not the only good news. Today’s result has also shown that Singaporeans, religious or not, feel that there should be a clear separation of religion from secular organisations such as NGOs and organs of states. This is very strongly needed in our country, because of our multi-religious and multi-racial profile. We cannot afford to let one racial or religious group dictate another person’s life just because the former believes that it is right. While this success may seem small, I see this a significant reaffirmation of the country’s founding principles.

The good news doesn’t end here; like I mentioned previously, today’s EGM has demonstrated the self-correcting power of a properly functioning democratic system in any organisation. Freak election results do occur, as the examples in recent years have shown. The same apparatus which creates these freak results empower members to make it right. That’s the purpose of no-confidence motions. I sincerely hope that this episode would allow all Singaporeans to experience the cogs of democracy moving.

Filed under: General