Yeah… Exams over, had been itching to blog about AWARE and Mingyi’s case. And now there’s a new kid on the block known as swine flu. The newspaper, bloggers etc are having a field day with much news worthy issues to write about.

In my last post, I mentioned that we have to look at the actions of Josie Lau (JL), Feminist Mentor Thio (FM Thio) rather than listen to their words to understand the saga better. And I did point out that JL adopted a ‘knower’s stance instead of a ‘learner’ stance before FM Thio declared that it was a coordinated takeover effort masterminded by her. So here’s my few cents worth presented in a tongue in cheek MCQ style. (Perhaps I can write a facebook quiz base on this)

Question 1.
You discover that AWARE had a neutral stance towards homosexuality in their sex education program. It violates your religious believes, what should you do?

a) Live and let live. It is not my problem as long as I can choose not to go for their version of sex education.

b) Write to MOE/AWARE/Schools to engage them in a civil minded dialogue about it, explaining my concerns and giving constructive feedback

c) Form my own non-governmental organization with a few like-minded friends to offer an alternative to the AWARE sex education program. Come out with a better program so schools will choose my program instead of AWARE’s

d) Get a group of my sisters to formally take over control of AWARE so we can make sure that AWARE will be refocus it to what I believe is right for you, for Singapore, for everyone in the observable universe.

If you choose
a – You have the ‘bochup’ attitude. It is dangerous if one shows constant apathy but at least you don’t create problems for others.
b- You are the ‘complain’ kind. You strongly believe that you can change the world if you draw their attention to the problems you spotted. You may not be Ms Popular but the world truly needs people like you to improve
c- You prefer to let your own action speak louder than your words. If others are not doing it properly, you feel compelled to make sure that it is done properly. And you do it fairly.
d- It’s your way or highway. You don’t tolerate alternative views. Why do so when it is ‘obvious’ that all these alternative views are wrong! You won’t let alternative views exist when you are around.

FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer - d

Question 2.
You have successfully taken over AWARE via the AGM. Now you have the chance to right all the wrongs and direct this organization to where it should be. What should you do now?

i. Express my views and concerns over the sex education from AWARE and engage members in discussion over the differences to make the change.

ii. Ignore the old guard and views of other members. Leave them out of the meetings, isolate them and make them all quit and leave the committees so no one will oppose to the changes that I will be making to AWARE

iii. Do not renew CEDAW and other sub-committee head’s tenure despite their experience and despite that CEDAW most of those other sub-committees did not implement the sex education. Replace them with new EXCO member who are new to AWARE and loyal to me. Fire all the workers who refuse to obey me. Remember, it’s my way or highway. Oh, remember to change the locks so unauthorized visitors cannot come in.

a) i only b) ii only c) iii only d) ii & iii

If you choose a) EQ150. If you choose b) EQ90. If you choose c) EQ70. If you choose d), EQ10
FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer – d

Question 3.
The old guard is fighting back because of your lack of tack and suspicious actions after taking over AWARE. They want to know what you have in store for them in AWARE. What should you do?

a) I will identify a few key areas that I will want to work on, including the homosexuality issue and I will consult all my advisors, including the old guard, on this issue before making my decision on the future plans for AWARE. I will organize open forum/discussion to engage all parties and re-affirm AWARE’s founding principles or non-discrimination (including gays)

b) Keep quiet about my plans and give general comments that I will work hard to improve women’s rights etc. Give TV interviews but refuse to do it with the old guard. Try to buy sympathy votes by portraying myself as the victim.

c) Blame the old guard for being pro-gay and forcing us to come in. Blame the old guards that they are too diversify and need to focus on their energies to pressing issues. Blame the old guards that they are too focus on pro-gay movement. Blame them for showing lesbian movies. Doesn’t matter if what I blame seems incoherent, as long as I point the blame elsewhere. I can’t be wrong.

d) I will do b) and c) and at the same time rally all my comrades from my religious background to stand behind me to make the change that we all believe in. Even if it meant that some of my comrades may resort to verbal abuse, character assassination and other destructive means to support me. (There was a false and vicious rumour spreading among some Christian sites that Constance Singam was pro-gay because she had a gay brother)

If you choose
a) You are a true leader who will inspire others to follow you with confidence and trust.

b) You lead by faith, your followers stand behind you because they are your friends/relatives/acquaintance.

c) You lead by fear, by making others look bad, by making the future look bleak, you try to get people to support you because you are the only ray of hope for them.

d) Sith lords, Hitler, Kim Jong II. Those who follow you think that you are the GREAT LEADER, those who don’t follow you are mightily wrong.

FM Thio, JL and Co’s answer - d
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Yes, I think that the new committee had 3 chances to prove themselves worthy but in my opinion, they made the wrong choices in all 3 chances. The vote of no confidence for the new committee seems appropriate and there is nothing wrong, legally, for the old guard to challenge the new guard in EOGM as it written within their constitution. JL and co may be voted in legally but they were not voted in fairly. That is because there were a overwhelming majority of the voters who support JL and co because of their religious links. In AGM for NGO, it is not compulsory for all voting members to be present in the AGM or EOGM to vote, unlike Singapore election. As long as the turnout is more than a certain number as required in the constitution, the AGM/EOGM can proceed. Therefore JL may have been able to take control by getting a large turnout from minority members. So what is perfectly legal may not be morally upright. Similarly, what is morally upright, may not be legal at all.

The old guards actions were honourable. They did not resort to any of those ‘dirty’ actions taken by the new guard despite the new guard’s action against them. They took steps to organize themselves, setup online petition, write in for EOGM, and reach out to the masses by supporting facts and achievements they have made over the 25 years. When faced with problems, their actions won over my respect for them.
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Now at this juncture, I have 1 more question for FM Thio, JL and co. Faced with an EOGM, what should they do now?

a) Recruit more religious members to support them and retain control at all costs

b) Pillage, slash and burn tactics. Make sure maximum damage is done to AWARE before the old guard takes over

c) Step down and take responsibility for the fiasco

d) Diplomacy – negotiate with the old guard to come to an agreement of sorts

What will be their answer? This may be the final chapter of the saga or it can be the beginning of another one. As what our minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has said

1. it is wise to keep religion out of politics in Singapore (which FM Thio and co brought it in)

2. Do not let one issue hijack the agenda and polarize Singapore (which FM Thio and co tried very hard to do it by bringing up the gay issue to polarize Singapore. The old guard did bring up issue of lack of communication/distrust of the new guard but that will hardly polarize Singapore)

3. A rainbow coalition is vital for any group here to make changes (which the old guard is one of different race and religious background but the new guard is predominantly Chinese Christians from the same church)

The new guard now admit that they were behind a coup and admitted to doing so because of gay issues. The new guard are launching an offensive in claiming the old guard stood for gay rights and they couldn't condone it. It is now taking over a lot of column inches in Straits Times. Can this be possibly a way to rally troops behind their cause?

The new president attempted to explain that they did not sack the old guard but their positions simply expires with the new exco. Now I wonder if it is worthwhile for any sub-committee to embark on a long term project at all since they will become expired once a new committee steps up. Some how things doesn't make sense to me. This is really the most interesting case to follow up in the near future.

It is not what they say that is interesting, but what they do that tells us about their intentions. It's really interesting to find out that the old guard came from different background, race, religions etc while the new ones came predominantly from a single church! I certainly hope that AWARE can represent all women in Singapore, regardless of race, language or religion and hope that the exco will reflect this representation too.

and I need to MUG for my exams!!! What am I doing in NUS at this point of time... GGRRRRR.... Should have brought my notes along.

Are you aware of AWARE?

The alleged coordinated hostile take over of a women's right group in Singapore by a group of women from a certain church in Singapore? There's plenty of news and discussion about it and certainly it took its fair share of headlines comparable to Ming Yi's ongoing case and the rojak food poisoning recently. Now I think Straits Times and other writers have covered the story pretty well from the DBS statements to how the old guard and the newly elected president got ousted out from the team etc. Let's just see how easy is it to conduct a hostile takeover of sorts.

1.) Societies are registered under the Registry of Societies in Singapore and they will have to draw up a constitution stating clearly the conditions for memberships, appointments, AGM, EOGM etc. Such documents can be purchased at the RoS website for a fee of $50 so you can get an idea of how to take over the society as each society's constitution will be different.

2.) AGM is a platform to elect new executive committee members. To amend the constitution, you will have to call for an EOGM. And there are some standard guidelines for AGM and EOGM. After the meeting, you have to submit the amended constitution to RoS before it is cast in stone. So one cannot amend the rules anyhow when such emergency happens. Which is a good thing as the old guard has a way to work back on the system.

So in order to take over any society, just sign up for the membership and when AGM comes, they will have to inform you. Look through their constitution and plan your coup by overwhelming the AGM.

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The new AWARE team adopted a 'knowers' stance when it comes to leadership. Its team shut off feedback from others, including experienced members, and took it to task to change others to suit their leadership rather than learn how to achieve their goals. The first thing they did was to remove all the sub-committee head and to complain why others don't give them a chance. When they speak, they put themselves as the victim and try to appeal for sympathy and feelings rather than convince others with facts and rationales. They are unlikely to be successful as long as they refuse to adopt a 'learner's' stance.

If the new AWARE team really did plot a 'stormtrooper' style takeover of AWARE, they must be surprised at the 'resistance' that they face. Their extreme actions forced the old guards to take extreme measures and they lost many support and caused a divide within AWARE between the old and new guard. Now if part of the EOGM's agenda is a vote of no confidence for the new team, we may see a new election. But what's more interesting is in the turnout for the EOGM, the percentage of new members from each side. It will be a case of who can get more voting power.

Whatever the ending, it will surely be interesting for many of us to observe as it may gives us insights to possibly some of the hidden issues/problems within Singapore

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And a check on RoS website shows that the last annual report submitted to RoS by NUS Physics Society was in 2002, the same year when I submitted an amendment to the consititution. Does that mean that I'm still, technically, the President of NUS Physics Society?? What have they been doing for the past 7 years!!

Really busy. So much so that I try to take less pictures since I know I don't have time to process them.

PI for PW = 21 students x 500 words x 3 drafts minimum = 31500 words to read and grade.

EOM for PW = 21 students x 600 words x 3? drafts minimum = 37800? words to read and grade.

I&R for PW = 21 students x 500? words x 1 draft (hopefully) = 10500? words to read and grade

WR for PW = 5 groups x 2500 words x 3? drafts = 37500 words to read and grade
(That's a total of about 120,000 words for a SCIENCE teacher to read and grade for PW alone, wow!)

OP for PW = ??? sleepless nights? + my own NUS exam at the same period and TISF report submission due at the same period of time??? = suicidal.

SPA = 66 students x (1 report each + 1 graph each + 6 data points min + etc each) = 66 reports + 66 graphs + 396 data points + 66 etc each to graph.

H1 + H2 common tests and exams = about many marks and questions to set and grade.

Research @ NUS = countless of reports to read, presentations to evaluate, research to be done...

Plus other committees and adhoc duties...

This year may be the most demanding yet...

Anyone thinks that there is a market for PW tuition center? Specialist in helping students score for PW etc?

That's so random of me after spending a significant portion of my the long weekend reading PIs and reports for water prize... Luckily I caught up with my sleep... so I'm not THAT grouchy.

I truly believe that a retired teacher can be very happy and proud of their 40 years of career in education. I have seen one retire last year whom I got to know him better as we used to work in the same CCA when I first started out as a beginning teacher. I knew he was very happy and proud being a teacher but I didn’t think I understand why until April last year.

The happiness when a teacher learns about the achievements of his students is one of the reasons why education is such a rewarding career. I was mugging at home when I received news from my students that one of my student who just won a top prize in a top competition in Singapore, I got so excited for him. I look upon my student presenting his work overseas and bringing back honours for Singapore with pride. I was happy for my students when they got their ‘A’ levels results, not only for those who got straight A’s, but also for those who didn’t do as well but did not let that set back put them down. I am pleased to see my ex-civics class do well in their PW when they receive their results today. I am thrilled to find out that one of my students is selected for a prestigious program in one of the top university in USA.

I am proud to know that all these students have good character, well rounded and truly deserve their achievements. I have a very happy teacher day today.

Recently witness quite a few cars zipping in and out of lanes trying to get to their destination faster by driving like Formula One racers on the road.

One of them started off behind my car at Buona Vista flyover and entered AYE. Very quickly, he cut right in front and try to speed his way forward. Now along the way, he couldn't get more than 10 car length ahead due to the heavy morning traffic. Eventually when he exited at Rochor, he was no more than 3 seconds ahead of me. All I did was just stick to my lane and drove comfortably, without thinking of overtaking the car ahead of me.

Another case started at ECP after the Rochor exit towards Jurong. A yellow Suzuki swift also zip in and out of lanes trying to get to his destination faster. This time, he managed to go further ahead such that I lost sight of him. But when I took the Clementi Ave 2 exit along AYE, I saw this yellow Suzuki swift again with its characteristic white rim tyres and ah beng driver in shades. I managed to catch up with him after all and even stopped besides him at the traffic lights. We went off in different directions from that point onwards.

If humans are rational, why waste the fuel to drive aggressively. Is the gain of a minute really worth 10-20% extra in fuel cost? Most important of all, what is the expected return for driving aggressively? Let's do a mathematical estimate with the following assumptions.

1. Let's assume a typical trip from point A to point B takes about 15 minutes or 900 seconds in Singapore
2. Let's assume that if one drive aggressively on the road, you will save 10% of your trip time, or 90 seconds
3. Let's assume that by driving aggressively on the road, you will increase your odds of meeting an accident by 6 fold.
4. Let's assume that an average driver will be involved in a road accident once every 10 years or once every 6000 trips. Therefore an aggressively driver will be involved in a road accident once every 1000 trips.
5. Let's assume that with every road accident, you have to spend an average of 24 hours of your time to settle it (including reporting accident, police reports, repairs, medical care, insurance claims etc).

Therefore, an aggressive driver will save (90 x 1000 - 24x60x60) x 6 = 6 hours in 10 years. Of course, that's assuming that the accidents do not kill you, if that happens, the equation will change and time will be negative infinity. And also, assuming that the accidents do not permanently scar you or disable you or bar you from driving, if that's the case the equation will change and time wasted will be very big instead. If you factor these inside the calculation, or if you just factor in the death part, it is sufficient to tilt the results completely.

So why drive aggressively? It's just not worth it.
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But having said that, humans will still drive aggressively, it is a choice that one makes. Just make an informed choice and bear with the consequences.

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Same thing applies to all our choices. Be it choosing which CCA to join, which homework to complete first, it's about choices. In JC, you have to make those choices, but make informed choices. Irrational, it may be.