...the Gates of Heavenly Peace became the doorway to hellish chaos.



And our LKY said in 2004, "If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it."

I am not here to tell you whether the Chinese government was right in their action or not; only you can decide that for yourself. This post is just my annual ritual to remember the lives lost during that horrible period which formed one of the many way points in the awakening of my political consciousness. I still remember the horror many felt in Singapore when news, pictures and broadcasts from the scene reached us here so many miles south. It's been twenty years since, and the PRC government has successfully buried it under the cobblestones of Tiananmen with economic progress, money, comfort, consumerism, etc.

While the young of China may not give two hoots about it, I for one do not want to forget.

• The Huffington Post - Tiananmen Square Remembered, An Eye-Witness Account
  
• The Telegraph - China's young leave Tiananmen in the past
  
• Wikipedia - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989

Labels: china

Okay, this is a bit passed sell-by date. But some comments and articles decrying the uncivil atmosphere at the recent AWARE EGM reminded me of something similar I had witnessed years ago.

I was once a member of this mega church located somewhere in the prime district of Orchard Road.

After the previous minister left at the end of his contract, a new one was brought in as his replacement. All was going well; he was vibrant (though not young), filled with enthusiasm and brought a much lacking passion back to the church. The young came back in droves, brought back by those who were there all this while. Everyone was filled with the fire of the spirit (I can't believe I just used that term).

Wow... church activities really shot through the roof. Church camps, bible studies, musicals, fellowships, prayer meetings, etc. all saw record attendance and involvement.

And mind you, this was a "conservative" non-charismatic/Pentecostal type church which does not practise faith healing and speaking in tongues. Meaning, a church that is supposed to be more straitlaced and sedate, hence, supposedly lacking in passion. In short, the church was transformed to something no one thought was possible.

Yup, my life was centred on the church then. I was there practically every day after school on top of the usual Saturdays and Sundays.

One fine day, a bunch of church leaders decided that this minister had to go. I don't really know the reason why (and I still don't), it's just that they had enough of him and his ways. I was too young then to know the politics that was going on behind the closed doors of the leadership meetings.

What I did know was that the leader who had rejuvenated the church was suddenly fired for no apparent reason.

And like a headless chicken, the church was left running around in circles with no one knowing what was happening.

Of course things didn't go the way according to plan. Members demanded an EGM to find out what was happening and voice their opinions. Lines were drawn and enemies made. Even I got into fierce disagreements with my mother (who I saw as siding the other camp) and my sister who couldn't be bothered and felt (wisely I may add) that I should stay uninvolved.

Gosh, the EGM was the most raucous I had ever seen. I don't remember booing and jeering, but I do remember shouting matches, interruptions one after another, quoting of bible verses against each other, banging of tables and pews, and a whole bunch of other unpleasantries.

As a young member of that church, I was extremely discombobulated by the situation. The church that formed the centre of my life was in disarray, its head beheaded.

In the end, the leadership got its way and the minister was sent packing. The church as a result was split with one section leaving to form their own outside of the original denomination.

As far I know, enmity made then remains to this day. Even though they may speak of loving each other, their actions (or inaction) speaks otherwise.

Looking back, I can confidently say that each party saw themselves as the righteous one and the other threatening the unity of Christ's body. Who was right? Who was wrong? I don't know and I don't bother anymore. That is a past that I had exorcised and thrown into a bottomless pit.

So what's the point of this post? Well, it's more of an exercise of recollection for me on one hand, and on the other, to point out that religious EGMs can be as uncivil as secular ones when passions flare and everyone felt they had a lot at stake in the outcome.

Labels: religion, singapore

By now, everyone in Singapore is aware of the second part of the hostile takeover of AWARE saga.

Smarting from their defeat, a group of likeminded people (parents and others) who are more or less allied to the ideas of Thio Su-Mien, Josie Lau and company have bombarded MOE with allegations about AWARE's Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) "promoting" homosexuality, pre-martial sex, etc. by the mere mention of them in neutral terms.

Neutral because the course is supposed to give students the facts AND encouraged them to think about actions and consequences.

But knowing how "some people" operate, they chose to take certain lines from the material out of context, blow it out of proportion and go "LOOK!! SEE!! AWARE is promoting homosexuality, pre-martial sex, etc. by not using negative terms against it!!"

It has even spilt over to JC General Paper (GP) lessons, which is kind of stupid and sad considering that in GP lessons, students are made to think through and analyse topics of the day. These include terrorism, religious fundamentalism, etc. etc.

The main point is to get them to think. But some paranoid and overprotective parents are so afraid that the mere mention and discussion of homosexuality will turn their JC kids gay. Gosh... I guess there should be a lot of new terrorists and religious fundies in JC by now.

This whole episode shows the absurdity of Singapore's education and parents' expectations. First we complain that our kids and university graduates don't know how to think, analyse, write properly and have knowledge and opinions about current issues of the day. Then we scream in horror when teachers try to equip them with the skills necessary to do so.

I mean like what do we expect GP teachers to do? Discuss less controversial topics like water desalination, COE prices and state of canteen food?

But parents being parents will always see their children as kids who need to be protected and guided regardless of how old they are. Not realising that kids are way much smarter than we give them credit for. They do have an opinion and they don't take everything at face value.

And as for the CSE programme, if they don't get their knowledge from school with the right tools to make informed and responsible decisions, guess where they are going turn to?

The internet of course!

And that should worry parents much more than CSE and GP teachers discussing "controversial" topics. Because if parents have actually been on the 'net, they should know that nothing there is regulated. Information, misinformation, hard core pornography and all that would turn their gut inside out is available to all who search for them.

Without the necessary knowledge and with misinformation from the 'net and hear-say from their peers who may be just as ignorant as them, one shouldn't be surprised if they start experimenting with disastrous results.

Ignorance or innocence, your choice.

Anyway, I think this post by a GP teacher who is in the know more than me has said more than I could. It was forwarded to me by a friend and I have posted it on my "Stolen Goods" blog (with full credit). Check it out here.

Labels: education, lgbt, religion, singapore

Some of you may know that the former new EXCO spent a total of $90,000 within a month. AWARE's annual expenditure is around $200,000 and any expenditure of above $20,000 requires the consent of the general assembly, which unfortunately the new EXCO did not obtain.

This of course puts their operation and programmes in jeopardy. To help raise funds for AWARE, a concerned member (or members) have printed t-shirts with nifty and hilarious quotes from the EGM for sale. Check them out. They are going at S$29.90 per piece. 70% of the price will go to AWARE. Err... I mean the AWARE without the COOS cabal lah.

These are some of my favourites. Click on the pictures to see the rest and place your orders.

                  

Buy one, two, heck! Buy all designs!

And if the Ts are too loud, get a discreet button to pin on your bags or whatever lah. These are going at S$11.50 for a set of three.

            

Labels: civil society, singapore

Well, that's it. The 5^th column-elected new exco of AWARE has resigned in the wake of a no-confidence motion and a new one unaffiliated with the Anglican Church of our Saviour (COOS) or Thio Su-Mien (TSM) has been elected.

All this saga and waste of time and money brought on by Christian extremists who are way too fixated on one "bogeyman".

Bogeymen or cause célèbre is nothing new. Political and religious movements have used it countless of times throughout history to rally their adherents (ie: The Spanish Inquisition, Salem witch trials, burning of witches and perceived heretics, etc etc). Of course in modern day Singapore, it is too politically sensitive and incorrect to use another religion (like Islam in some Western countries) as their bogeyman. So what do TSM and her COOS fellow members do? They learn from their American co-religionist and target homosexuality. Delusional, they sincerely believe there is a hidden gay agenda with a gay mafia in Singapore.

Hypocritically I might add. Since there are countless things the bible denounced and yet they don't seem to have an issue with. For example, remarriage after divorce is adultery according to Jesus and adulterers do not inherit the kingdom of god. Yet we don't seem to hear TSM or Pastor Derek Kong having a field day with that.

But you know what's really sad? It's how AWARE got dragged into TSM and COOS's "spiritual warfare". Yes, they call their fight "Spiritual Warfare". "Holy War" chope by another religion lah.

As far as AWARE and everyone (everyone except you know who) is concern, they are a feminist organisation dedicated to the fight for equality and non-discrimination of females regardless or race, religion, age, language, cultural, financial and sexual background. Since their establishment in 1985, they have advocated, taught, researched, conducted workshops, counselled, etc. etc. Great work if you asked me. Of course some may disagree.

But never were they ever a "homosexual" organisation. The bone of TSM and COOS's contention is just a very small part of their comprehensive sexual education programme for schools which covered homosexuality in neutral terms (neither for nor against) for about 5 minutes or so.

Somehow or other, this was taken out of context by TSM and COOS and blown way out of proportion. All of a sudden, a feminist organisation became a "homosexual one" and fell into the holy gun sights of the extremists. And before they knew it, a fifth column was secretly installed and their members voted into the exco.

I don't blame the original AWARE for this. Never in their right mind did they think that a religious group in Singapore (of all places) won't do such a thing and never did they think they would be a target. I mean they are a feminist organisation dedicated to issues concerning women in Singapore, nothing too controversial about that right?

And who would have thought that a religious group that prided itself on being on the moral high ground would have resorted to such underhanded and distasteful (though legal) hostile takeover tactics usually practiced by greedy corporate raiders of the 80s.

Well, the battle is won for inclusiveness but the war is not over. The extremist likes of TSM and COOS will continue, just like comic book villains, always in the background but showing up once in a while to fight the heroes of the Marvel and DC comic universe.

The upside to this whole fiasco? It has exposed the face of Christian fundies in our midst and has also shown the whole of Singapore that religious extremism is not the sole monopoly of one religion and not all extremists are locked away by ISD.

As for AWARE, I hope the indignation, outrage and passion shown by old and new(est) members will translate into more zest and groundbreaking good work by them.

As for the rest of us, I think after this incident, not just AWARE but all civil societies and NGOs in Singapore should start looking into and tightening up their constitution to prevent another hostile takeover by outsiders.

***

• For minute by minute (well almost) updates of the EGM yesterday, please refer to http://wayangparty.com/?p=8732
  
  
• Also, do read the opinion of a neutral bystander who was appalled by how the new exco behaved at http://wayangparty.com/?p=8513

Labels: civil society, lgbt, religion, secularism, singapore

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_306421.html

Just in case you're wondering, the letter writer is 21 year old Li Hongyi.

Labels: politics, singapore

"People never do evil so cheerfully or completely as when they do it from religious conviction"

No particular moving reason for this post. The above is just a comment I read on a BBC News blog recently and which came to mind when I read this article on the NYT.

Labels: politics