Zzzz, static noise. But stay tuned.

No one knows the agenda of Ms Lau & commitee yet. Both the mainstream & alternative factions are just being fidgety.

Trackback from AWARE's President, beware! :

Actually it brings up a question: why DBS seemingly is against its employee to be involved in this AWARE organization???...

Don't muddle things. DBS is not anti-AWARE, just kena screwed on 2 counts here.

The 1st is her breaching its conduct of policy -- twice, mind you. That is, (a) joining an outside exco w/o permission (which the bank forgave) &, (b) later taking the top office-holder job itself. Basically non-professionalism, lah.

The 2nd is more serious, cuz it goes beyond employer/employee nitty-gritty. Legally, one can claim she failed to declare her outside involvement, as required under the Banking Act. Yes, I know DBS is govt-owned, but it's MAS which regulates the financial industry -- rigorously & transparently in the interests of depositors in this case. In other words, the public interest is at stake.

I believe the specific statutory provision which DBS dreads having to potentially answer for is Part IV, 27, 1e. But it won't end up in court, just malu feelings if MAS instructs them to kick her out under Part IV, 27, 3c.

The legalities, quoted from agc.gov.sg:-

27. —(1) Every bank in Singapore shall prepare a statement in respect of each quarter of a year, in such form as may be specified by the Authority, showing as at the end of that quarter all the credit facilities from and all the exposures of the bank to ....

(d) any company of which the bank or any of its officers (other than directors), employees or other persons who receive remuneration from the bank (other than for professional services rendered to the bank) is a director, an executive officer, an agent, a guarantor or a surety;

27. — (3) If, on examination of any statement supplied by a bank under subsection (2) (c), it appears to the Authority that any credit facility from or any exposure of the bank to any person is to the detriment of the interests of the depositors of the bank, the Authority may by notice in writing to the bank do one or more of the following...

(c) direct the bank to cease any further exposure to the person or impose such restrictions on such further exposure as the Authority thinks fit.

Can someone tell me what has AWARE got to do with "lesbian Issue" ??

Sigh.. ok you sit tight, and I hold your hand and tell you ok? I explain very very slowly.
AWARE stands for gender equality.
Equality means no discrimination.
If AWARE stands for no discrimination, then our gay friends (some of whom are women) who are being discriminated by law will also come into the picture. If we believe in equality for all, then gay people are not people meh? Understand now? Or want me to explain again, with pictures?

Anyway all this talk about DBS and Josie misses the point.

What Josie and the pussycats did was to reduce the public space for civil society, by organising a group of Christians to try to kill off a secular, liberal NGO like AWARE. I'm very surprised that Tomorrow.sg didn't pick up on this angle when everyone else (even our beloved ST) is talking about it.

Josie herself, in her position as DBS VP for card banking, tried to hoodwink Sporeans by channeling our credit card expenditure into donations for the local branch of the rabidly fundamentalist American evangelical christian pressure group, Focus on the Family. Yes the same FOTF that lobbies support for Sarah Palin and her Republican ilk, the same FOTF that wants to re-introduce strict gender roles for women, and who campaign politically against women's rights of abortion and of course, who spreads lies and propaganda against gay people, simply because they are gay.

Now, I am not gay, or lesbian or whatever GLBTQBBQWTF acronym you can throw at me.

I AM SINGAPOREAN. I like living in a multi-racial, multi-religious society, where NO RELIGION HAS THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE AND DICTATE HOW EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD LIVE.

This is MY singapore. There is no space for a religious Taliban here.

No, that's scaremongering.

That said, AWARE was not some front for lesbian rights activism either. Rather, it is all-inclusive -- regardless of whatever its members personally feel. The tolerant stance is crucial, cuz it takes on a lot of complex societal issues (eg. domestic/maid abuse, sexual harassment/stereotyping, abortion, gender enpowerment/health/education, etc.).

In this sense, it is more progressive than liberal.

The anti-gay suspicion for the new regime is purely speculative, fueled largely by what is on public record about Ms Lau &, correspondingly, the religious ties her power clique shares with her. Can be easily re-clarified by stating their agenda, lah.

Instead, what's happening so far looks more like a bunch of outsider reactionaries initiating a hostile takeover, & the perception of a coup d'etat further ingrained in the manner of their rude axing of longtime volunteers & their abrupt overhauling of sub-committees (in favor appointing "new" but inexperienced office holders).

Hence the obvious question: If that's the modus operandi, why didn't they start their own advocacy group?

Josie and the god-botherers didnt start their own advo group, because they could simply leech onto AWARE's achievements, and at the same time neutralise the progressive and liberal voices in civil society. Its a purge, plain and simple.

Look out, Action for Aids! Trying to educate Singaporeans on contraception and sex education? Then the fundamentalist god-botherers will get you too.

That said, Josie and gang are a true PR disaster. WWJD?

hey is that you, lky?!

Thks! mathsfail* I 've got the point now. Got to go and pick up director Zero Choy movie
Spider Lilies .

I wonder how they feel with the close public scrutiny.

first of all their actions aren't very christian. and really, not to mention raiding the coffers of AWARE for their still largely unknown agenda.

what they have done is unethical and they certainly lost any moral high ground.

"gender equality" has nothing to do with sexuality.

The homosexuals are trying to twist "gender" to into homosexuality so that they can further their agenda under the guise of AWARE.

Gender refers to "male or female". Lesbians are in, gays are out.

As for rights, they are not the main focus, but equality of women cf that of men.

Trackback from Sam's Thoughts: The New Adventures of Josie and the Pussycats:

Previously, DBS was embroiled in public relations nightmare when it adopted Focus on the Family as its charity. The charity is a global organisation, and is fundamentalist Christian. It was met with resistance by the sexual minority community here....

Josie Lau = Christian Taleban

I hate her.

i think josie lau should just quit her job. and get out of singapore. maybe go to saudi arabia or smth where they believe women should stay at home to cook and cannot abort too. hahahah.

She is "PURE EVIL" .

Trackback from Taikiew - BE AWARE of Ms Lau's contradictory statements!:

Is Ms Lau, the new president, fit for the task? Is she being truthful to the press and in her statements?...

The "AWARE" saga should be made into a hollywood soap opera . The main casts consists of a bunch of white collar idiots & anti-homosexual fanatics.
The Casts , "Pure Bitch"( Josie Lau ) Sick Ass (Dr Allan Chin) ALM (anti lesbian mentor) (Dr Thio Su Mien) , Mayor MP (Thio Li-Ann)

Josie's gang sacked the AWARE centre manager Schutz Lee for *alleged* insubordination (they have not proved it yet) Yet Josie herself saw fit to disobey and disregard her employer's wishes.... and her insubordination was proven and acknowledged. Do the right thing Josie and resign?

We should not be surprised though. Practising double standards seems to be SOP (standard operating procedure) for the Thio Su Mien cult. Calling themselves Christians but breaking commandments [thou shalt not lie] .... [thou shalt not use the Lord's name in vain] .... and they dare to brand other people sinners?

They have caused public nuisance and incited hatred and potential violence. They -- and especially Thio Su Mien -- cannot be allowed to get away with it otherwise what is to prevent other fundamentalist groups from doing the same thing? They need to be "counselled" and deprogrammed, the way they want to "counsel" people whom they consider unacceptable.

I am proud of my fellow Singaporeans (and PR's) men, women, Christians and non-Christians... and I thank our government for their wise and restrained support. I call upon our government to now do the right thing and investigate these dangerous Church cults. Singapore can ill afford more of such fiascoes.

Who is the person who said Josie Lau should go to Saudi Arabia? Hip hip hooray for that!
She should go to another place to procreate freely and have her christian taleban children...little josiettes and joshuattes.
By the way, I just heard that somewhere in the Old testament one shouldn't create debt for others. Why is she promoting credit card, i.e. debt? The Lord God may punish her.
Where is the Church Of Our Saviour? Is throwing rotten eggs at the door considered a crime in Singapore?

Dr Thio Su mien...whoever in their right minds made her the first woman dean of the law faculty? How can an auntie who says things like "respect your elders" be ever given that kind of honour? I mean, what an aunti'ish-I-just-shopped-at-tekka-market-for pork-ribs thing to say.

Anybody know Allan Chin's clinic?
Am so boycotting it.

First the wife, now the husband. He 'influenced' his daughter to defame homosexual in her blog.which was retaliated by reader and which caused his daughter to commit suicide.
What the hell this parent is thinking???? Shame On Both Of You. Sigh.
Please everyone. Think of the Cause and Effect. The Consequences before doing something.
Don't do it bluntly.

whateva is done was done out of a motive. what gain would she have if she had advocated anti -lesbianism n christianity? if she wanted, yes again i quote, she could have created her own advocate group.

yes she could leech on to e funding, but what good would it have done her personally?

all boils down to e heart motive. why would she cause so much negative publicity for herself .whats the ultimate goal? whats her aim??

again, i believe she stood up to her stand , got jeered by e others who wanted to takeover , thus she was opt out.-based on whateva faults they tried to find with her( e fault was that she is christian)

credit card is widely used for convenience sake and frankly. does that imply all christians should not take up mortgage loans, bank loans, credit cards, are all christians supposed to suck it in, spend their pennies n have no loans at all. how are they to buy a hdb flat? paying cold hard cash ?

thats not even so . does that mean she should quit her job in e financial industry. tt makes no absolute sense. why is e attack on christians but usually not on buddhists n muslims. lets leave religion out of e issue. but ponder why ?

probably she had a good motive, but way things were conveyed could have been done better. come one, who doesnt make mistakeS?

wont she be in reverent fear the lord for the things she done? thus i trust thatshe ll choose to do e right things.

why would she be able to climb up to such a high position, vice president. cos pple look up to her, her life would speak louder than her actions.

i support her.