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AWARE Not Really Aware Of The Principle of Equality

Feminist Naomi Wolf has met her match in Singapore.

The outspoken advocate against cosmetics and plastic surgery industries could not persuade women rights group Aware (Association of Women for Action and Research) to change their minds about adopting a more inclusive attitude towards men in their membership.

The best-selling author of The Beauty Myth and The End of America was invited as a guest speaker at the annual Singapore Writers Festival on Nov. 1, 2014. She gave a lecture on feminism and her dialogue session was moderated by former Aware President Dana Lam.

In Aware, ordinary membership is only open to women. Male members can be associate members of Aware with fewer participation rights.

Below is a transcript of the full exchange between Lam and Wolf:

Caleb, a male participant in the audience: How do you think that men can be more involved in feminism, and perhaps a remark to Dana, given what she (Naomi Wolf) said about feminism having to be more inclusive, would Aware consider including men as full members? (gasps from the crowd, followed by applause)

Dana Lam was silent for a while.

Constance Singam, a former Aware President: I like to answer that question…which is why it was taken over by the group of women, who took over Aware in 2009. Because we have that as part of our constitutional review. We want to include men.*

*Singam was referring to the March 2009 takeover of AWARE by a group of conservative Christians led by Thio Su-Mien and Josie Lau.

Lam: We were, we were considering it. (laughter in reaction to Lam’s hesitance)

Naomi Wolf: How can you legally exclude men?

Silence in the crowd.

Wolf: Well, that was a weird vibe. (Laughter in the crowd)

Lam: If you identify as a feminist, which is you believe in the equality of the rights of the individual, I think that is more important a commitment than to point finger at one organisation, which is set out specifically, for the objective of correcting the imbalance that exists in the society.

Wolf: I did that. He (the audience) didn’t do that. I’m the one who did that. He didn’t do that. (more laughter in the crowd)

Lam: No, no, no. Because Aware has always been taken to task for not admitting male members in the leadership especially. For some time now, we do have male members as associate members, they don’t have full membership rights. So this has been taken against us. But this is an organisation set up by women to correct the imbalance that exists in society. So until that problem is resolved, I think it’s too early for us to think of us involving men.

Wolf gave an unconvincing laugh.

Lam: You know, you can join in the conversation. You are invited to the roundtable discussion. You are invited to the events, and what we need is an evolution..

Wolf: I guess I will respectfully very very much disagree with what you just said. (To applause in the crowd)

Lam: The problem is we have a situation where what we need is to have the space for women to come together to articulate their problems.

Wolf: I don’t think it’s an either or. I don’t see why it’s an either or. You know, look, I don’t live here, and you are doing very important work and I respect your leadership. That said, I think we are in a turning point. I don’t want to be part of any organisation anywhere that leaves people out on the basis of their gender, or their race, or their religion. (To more applause in the crowd)

Wolf: I understand your comments that women need space on their own or men will take over. My view is a) if we are so passive that allowing men or including men means they are going to take it over, we need to work on ourselves. And b)…

Lam interrupted: We do! That’s why we have an organisation that allows us to work on ourselves.

Wolf: But we shouldn’t, like, keep him (the audience) out if he wants to be a feminist. (laughter in the crowd)

Lam: He doesn’t have to be in Aware to be a feminist.

Wolf: But again, let me circle back because this freaks people out, but I always like to go there. How can you legally exclude someone on the basis of their gender?

Some members of the audience: There is no gender equality under the laws of Singapore.

Wolf: There is no gender equality in Singapore? Really?

Singam: There is (gender equality) in our constitution, which has to be approved by the Registrar of Society.

Wolf: Okay. Is it illegal, like if he shows up and said that ‘I want to come in’?

Lam: That we are against his constitutional right? He could…

Wolf: He could make a lot of friends…

Lam: The gentleman, it was a man who just told me that we have five minutes more…Time’s up. Can we just take one last question?

Wolf: I feel that like, let’s just heal this bridge. (More laughter and applause)

Wolf: I just want to say you know your organisation. But I don’t see any reason you couldn’t have events, spaces, discussions for women, sometimes women do need to talk about things without men being around, and also ways of including men.

Let me give you an example. I was just down the campus in Columbia, and that was covered in the Straits Times. There was this protest that a woman is carrying around a mattress because she was assaulted. And now the whole university has shown support. And all these men are carrying around mattresses. It makes me cry. I was there and I see all these young men dragging around this mattress (laughter in the crowd) all by themselves, as a way to participate and to show support. It was absolutely organic, coherent, humane, healing. As a survivor of sexual violence myself, I found it healing to see these men carrying the stuff around and finding a role. There are so many ways of embracing men as feminists.

Lam: No doubt about it at all. But Ms Wolf, we are an Association of Women for Action and Research. And we work in collaboration with men and other organisations all the time! But we are an Association of Women for Action and Research! So unless we change our constitution, change our names, and the time might come for that. But the time is arguably not now.

Singham and some members of the audience: Yes!

Lam: Erm. Do we call it a day now?

The Straits Times report on this exchange on Nov. 3, 2014 noted that “no knockout punch was delivered” by either women, but featured a quote from an interview with a participant that was supportive of Wolf’s view.

“From that exchange, I think she (Lam) perpetuated the idea that feminism is men-hating, which is exactly what Naomi Wolf was arguing against,” said student Thanusha Raj, 22.

According to Wolf’s Facebook, all seems well regarding her friendship with the Aware members.

“I met a group of inspiring activists for (delicious) Chinese food afterwards in a giant bright mall — everything here is super clean super orderly and super bright…and these women started AWARE, the women’s organization, thirty years ago. They led the fight against policies that paid uneducated women not to reproduce….brought sexual harassment into the discussion…and pioneered other firsts. Humbling.”

Source: http://mothership.sg

November 4, 2014
Forced Into Hijab (Part II)

1) Modesty mustn’t simply be defined in terms of what you’re wearing, but more importantly, how you behave

I don’t know, I don’t think modesty should be as simple as a piece of clothing. I’ve seen women who are truly modest, and they don’t require a Hijab to be so. At the same time, I’ve seen women who dress modestly lead a decadent life. That’s why I think modesty needs to be more than how you dress. It is an entire behaviour. And no amount of clothing could alter that.

2) Religious decisions should never be forced upon anyone

I always believe that spirituality is a very personal thing. It is something between you and god, and you and god alone. No one should ever, ever come into the picture to influence any of your spiritual and/or religious decisions. I always don’t understand why people see the need to police or ‘save’ other people. Impositions of your own religious beliefs are not only unnecessary, they distance someone else from the religion altogether because it is very off-putting to have someone tell you how to behave. It is also another problem entirely when people tell me to wear the Hijab because they don’t want to be dragged into hell by my sins (i.e my reluctance to wear the Hijab). If anything, what I learnt from my JC experience was that people are able to appreciate the religion even more when they learn it on their own accord. My JC friends are so happy to wear the Hijab because it was never forced upon them.

3) The creation of a dichotomous identity

The person I see wearing the Hijab and my true self – the one who is not defined according to her physical form cannot co-exist. I actually do feel a sense of dissonance and conflict when I have to repress myself in order to maintain the good image of the Hijab. I’ll be honest; by nature I’m quite a free-spirited person who is both sarcastic and enjoys dry humor. I particularly like to make jokes (and crude ones at that) which make many people feel uncomfortable because it’s very unbecoming for a tudung girl to be like that. Due to that I hide my true self and appear to be this seemingly modest person in front of others. And it worked – people describe me as someone they deem ‘gentle’, ‘quiet’ and ‘shy‘. I can’t decide which is worse – being hypocritical by my wearing of the Hijab or simply to act as I like with no regard for it.

4) People define you in terms of your tudung

People being people, they judge you according to your appearance. When it comes to seeing a tudung girl, naturally, people will see a tudung girl first, and, say, a funny girl second. I do this too, because we always think that people who put on the tudung do so because they are motivated by goodness. As you can already tell, this idea doesn’t apply to me at all. Also I honestly feel sad when someone defines me according to my tudung; because I see myself as someone more than that, and I want to be acknowledged for being witty and funny and other things in which I pride myself for. Furthermore, people see you as ‘the other’ when you wear the tudung. They don’t ever see you or treat you as a regular person in society but as ‘the other’ or ‘the tudung girl’. Personally, I too, wish to be noticed (by the object of my affections) as someone who has a unique personality, but that unfortunately never happens because of how I look.

5) People police your behaviour and they see the need to ‘protect you’

This is an entirely problematic way of thinking which has existed since probably the dawn of time. This is linked to how someone has told me that they don’t want to be dragged into hell by my sins. I recall an incident in school whereby someone told me that my hair was showing and he made a deal out of it. He even jokingly asked – ‘You’re not wearing the inner part of the tudung right?‘ When you think about it rationally, how silly that must sound, because after all, it was simply two strands of hair. The world doesn’t stop when my hair shows, and neither will a hole appear before me and swallow me alive when my hair shows. It was then that I asked him why he felt it was such a problem to the point of accusing me of not wearing the inner tudung. He told me that he thought it would be a sin on his part to not tell me, which fairly reminded me of the kind of things other people tell me when they need to justify their policing of my behaviour or other religious decisions. Personally, I don’t believe that Islam, being the fair and merciful religion it is, would hold you accountable for the sins and the mistakes of others in which you do not consciously partake in. I believe that only the individual and the individual himself should be accountable for such, and not only that, it is an insult to the tudung-wearer to always be reminded that her body is a constant object of sin.

6) Paranoia, awareness of social judgment, and objectification of the self

A few months ago, I decided to do a project on the Hijab, where I challenged myself not to wear the Hijab to see how I would react, since I’ve always wanted to take it off anyway. I always thought it would be easy to take it off, being someone who’s always been reluctant to wear it. It was however, startling to see that it was extremely hard to do. When I didn’t have my tudung on I started feeling paranoid. I remembered taking it off in the toilet and having this intense urge to put it back on the moment I got out of the toilet. I feared someone would see me, someone would come to me and ask me why I am not wearing the tudung, and would then frown upon me. I also felt insecure showing a small part of my neck, and my hair, although the rest of my body was covered. I was experiencing a combination of confusion, insecurity and dissonance within myself. I thought I would feel liberated if I didn’t wear it but what ensued instead was only paranoia. It was amusing to see that when I wore the Hijab, my personality was at odds with my Hijab identity but when I took it off, my Hijab identity in turn was at odds with my personality. That was also when I discovered the idea of a dichotomous identity within myself, which could in no way, merge or be one with the other. Also, that whole experience taught me that objectification must be so prevalent in society when you out of all people, objectify yourself. I’ve always thought I was insecure of my features because I hid my hair, but after years of being conditioned to wear the Hijab, the reverse happened. I was now insecure of my features because I was used to hiding it. It doesn’t do anything for your self-esteem and doesn’t promote a healthy body image at all.

7) Having to compensate

I don’t think wearing the Hijab necessarily equates to a modest way of living. Initially, one of the reasons why the Hijab was so ideal was because it was supposed to shift the emphasis away from how you looked so you could focus on other more important things, like faith, the religion, and ultimately, God. However, if you look at the way things are presently, the Hijab no longer functions that way. It was also supposed to steer the emphasis away from materialism and consumerism, which, as we now know, is simply an ideal. The Hijab market is definitely on the rise now, as we see fashion shows dedicated to not only Hijab and clothing for veiled women but also fashion shows for theTelekung, which is a prayer gown. It is ridiculous to think that a modest piece of fabric that was once supposed to allow women to lead a modest lifestyle now becomes an industry in which people profit from. Furthermore, sometimes, as women wearing the Hijab, we feel the need to compensate, or to make up for what we lack through various means. I’m not saying this is true for everyone but at the very least it is true for myself. I find myself having to dress up more because I want to present myself better because I wear the tudung. Although I know it defeats the purpose of the tudung, I can’t help but to do what I do – because honestly, who doesn’t want others to see the best version of themselves? Dressing up is not about impressing other people but more about making yourself feel better. And this whole process of having to compensate – because I wear the tudung, does take its toll on me. I constantly think that if I don’t wear the tudung, I wouldn’t have to go through so much trouble — because with the tudung, you constantly have to be creative in the way you put your clothes together and you have to work around many things. After you get used to it, it is not much of a hassle, but it definitely isn’t the best way to live, and it definitely isn’t the best attitude to have when you wear the Hijab.

8) No good intentions

I find myself to be, quite frankly, a rather horrible person and because of that, I don’t think I deserve to or am ready to wear something like the Hijab which is a symbol of goodness in society’s eyes. Also, a person such as myself should not be wearing the tudung simply because I don’t believe in it and don’t have any strong convictions to wear it. Furthermore, I don’t think the Hijab or any other religious practice should be done when you’re not sincere about it. Although I wear the tudung everyday, every time I start putting it on the only thing I can think about is how much I dislike wearing it and how I wish I don’t have to. Because of this, my wearing of the tudung is no longer a kind of service to God but is reduced to a pointless ritual which benefits neither myself nor my relationship to God. It is also not of any justice to god, and it defeats the purpose entirely. At this point someone will ask “Why don’t you take it off then“, to which my answer would be – ‘I just can’t‘, as I’ve explained earlier on.

9) Endless questioning

Whether you wear the Tudung or not, as a Muslim woman, you will constantly be subjected to questions your entire life.

What initially drove me to write about this was because of my deep yearning to have my hair seen, after watching the television yesterday and observing the way this lady’s haircut perfectly framed and somehow enhanced her face. It was the kind of yearning that made me feel pathetic, knowing that having your hair shown is such a natural thing in which many people take for granted. I always wondered what life would be like if my hair could be seen. I always envisioned it to be a much better life, because it seems like I will be free from the many responsibilities, expectations, judgments, hypocrisy and confusion which I have now.

I would like to renounce it, if I could, but that is definitely not within my power.

I would like to say that these experiences are not just my own, but that I am very certain that many of us who have tried wearing the Hijab, or any Muslim woman for that matter, has felt similar sentiments.

To be honest, I am uncertain of where my life will head after I’m done publishing this and if small changes will slowly happen in my life, but I have this sinking feeling that nothing will change – I will forever don the Hijab because I don’t know how to live my life otherwise.

Source: http://beyondhijabsg.wordpress.com

November 4, 2014
Forced Into Hijab (Part 1)

Ramadhan has always been a special time for me because it’s the time when I sit down and reflect about my religion more seriously. I don’t mean for this to look like a biography, but I thought that it’d be easier to write things chronologically.

And with that I shall properly begin.

See, for as long as I can remember, the Hijab has always been an obligation enforced upon me and my sister.

As a young Muslim, you don’t really question these things but you just do it because your parents tell you to. When I was younger I don’t remember if I had true conviction for wearing it, but I wore it anyway. I just assumed it was the norm since my mother wears it, and because it was compulsory to wear it when you went to religious classes. So I did.

It was only in my pubescent teen years when this strong sense of dislike towards the Hijab sat at the back of my mind. The pubescent years was when how you looked started to matter, and for me, a person who has always struggled with low self-esteem, it aggravated the problem. I recall this incident that happened some time during my Secondary School years. My friends and I were out for a “Jalan Raya” outing. I was the only girl wearing the Hijab. I resented it the moment I put it on as it made me feel uglier than I already was. Seeing how pretty the other girls looked in something other than their Secondary School uniforms was enough to implant this small seed of jealousy within me. What worsened it however, was when the boys snickered, labelling me “alim” or pious because I wore the tudung. I remembered them laughing about it when I shortly excused myself to pray. It was something that damaged my self-esteem even more. At that moment I hated my parents for forcing such a thing upon me, and I hated the Malay community for endlessly criticising – it is a problem in their eyes to both wear it and not wear it. Most importantly, I hated that company; and that was when I swore to myself never to attend a “Jalan Raya” with anyone other than family.

This dislike for the Hijab continued into my JC years, although in a smaller scale. The JC years introduced me to new perspectives on the Hijab, both good and bad. For one, my Chinese friends were more accepting and encouraging of the Hijab than my Malay friends. They told me things like “You look good with the Hijab, it frames your face nicely”, “You’re pretty”, “I like the way you dress” which really made me feel better about myself. Never once did they question me for my decision to wear it. The Malays in my JC, were nicer than the ones I met in Secondary School. Not only were they non-judgmental, they never once snickered at me for wearing the Hijab. Furthermore, the girls were undergoing a transition like myself. We were all at the age where we wanted to take our lives more seriously, and the Malay girls I knew were all making the decision to wear the Hijab because of varying reasons. I was really happy that they were making the decision to do so, and listening to their stories made me feel more optimistic about the Hijab. However, along with it came a deep sense of jealousy. You see, my friends were the sort who were never forced to wear the Hijab by their parents. When they wanted to wear it, it was a decision they made on their own accord, and I truly respected them for that. It was something that was never in my capacity to do. How I wished I were them, loving and embracing the Hijab for all that it is. I couldn’t however, as my deep sense of repulsion for it was still there. You see, the more you are forced to do something, the more you shy away from it.

The present is when I’ve been starting to really rethink the whole idea of the Hijab. I am in uni now and it seems that in uni, at any given point of time, people see you in the Hijab and only the Hijab. I remember in year one I didn’t even bother to adopt a defensive attitude towards the Hijab. My friends asked me why I wore it, and I just answered “Because my parents forced me to”. I remember in JC I would tell my friends lies like “Because it allows me to be more modest” or something of the like, which, looking back, must have sounded really baseless and presumptuous. In uni I find myself being able to articulate my thoughts about the Hijab more clearly.

Source: beyondhijabsg.wordpress.com

November 4, 2014
Singapore To Contribute Personnel and Equipment to Multinational Coalition Against IS

SINGAPORE – Singapore will play its part in the multinational coalition battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by contributing personnel and equipment, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in Parliament on Monday.

This is part and parcel of Singapore’s ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, Dr Ng said, as he outlined how Singapore fought against the terrorist threat from Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah.

It did so by strengthening its social, psychological and physical defenses at home, and joining other countries to deal with the sources of radicalisation and terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“As a result, both Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah are weaker today. However, this terorrism threat is a long-term one, and new groups like ISIS will emerge even as existing ones falter. When they do, we must not lose focus or heart in dealing with the threat from ISIS. We must continue with the approach that has served Singapore well and protected us thus far,” he said.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

November 3, 2014
SPH Wins Most Transparent Company Award 2014. Yes SPH.

SINGAPORE – Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) received the Most Transparent Company Award in the Services category at the 15th SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards 2014, held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre on Friday evening (Oct 31).

With this latest accolade, SPH has now won this award eleven times.

This is also the third consecutive year it has bagged this award under the Services category (from 2012 to 2014). SPH won the award eight times when it was previously grouped under the Non-Electronics Manufacturing category.

Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Communications and Information, was the event’s Guest-of-Honour.

Mr Alan Chan, Chief Executive Officer of SPH, said: “This latest achievement is a testament to the rigorous standards of corporate governance and transparency that we uphold throughout the years. This is made possible with the guidance of our board and the strong support from our management and staff.

“I am also very proud of our award-winning journalists whose achievements continue to reflect their dedication and professionalism, as well as the high editorial standards set in our newsrooms.”

The three SPH journalists who received awards for their editorial excellence were:

1) Ms Michelle Quah (Senior Correspondent, The Business Times) – Financial Journalist of the Year

2) Ms Lee Meixian (Journalist, The Business Times) – Most Promising Journalist of the Year

3) Mr Goh Eng Yeow (Senior Correspondent, The Straits Times) – Best Commentary Award

This was the third time Ms Quah was honoured at the SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards. She was a joint-winner for the Financial Journalist of the Year award in 2007 and won the Financial Story of the Year award in 2010.

It was also the third accolade for Mr Goh Eng Yeow at the SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards. He was named Financial Journalist of the Year in 2006 and last year, he won the Outstanding Commentaries award.

This is the first award for Ms Lee Meixian at the SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards.

Mr Wong Wei Kong, Executive Editor and News Editor, The Business Times, said: “Michelle is without peer as an authority on corporate governance issues in Singapore. She combines her knowledge base with her years of experience covering corporate Singapore to put corporate governance, or the lack of it, under sharp scrutiny.

“She pulls no punches, regardless of who are involved, and her commentaries and stories have touched on a wide range of issues that have investor protection at their heart.”

Reflecting on Ms Lee’s achievements, he further added: “In just her first full year in reporting, Meixian has gone beyond the headlines to explore issues in depth. Her tenacity in chasing down the news, and refusal to give up until she is satisfied she has found the answers, make her a promising financial journalist.”

On Mr Goh’s latest accolade, Ms Jeanette Lee Su Shyan, Money Editor, The Straits Times, said: “Eng Yeow consistently delivers insightful commentaries. His knowledge of the stock market is unparalleled in the newsroom.”

Source: http://news.asiaone.com

November 3, 2014