The following is Aware’s president Josie Lau’s latest email message to members, 28 April 2009
Dear Valued Members
Since my election as President on 14th April 2009, I have received intense media attention. A group of AWARE members has gone public with various allegations and have called for an EGM for the specific purpose of removing me and my team. We have only been in office for less than 20 days.
I am a woman seeking to serve other women in Singapore. Like you, I have struggles. I do not have all easy answers to the many hard questions that life throws up. No one does.
However, we should not be passive where we can band together to work for positive change. There are many things worth protecting and fighting for.
We want to make a positive difference to your lives and to our society. A good place to start is to help the many distressed women affected by the current economic crisis.
We are dedicated towards continuing our role as an NGO to ensure the effective implementation of CEDAW standards. We want to see abstract standards translated into meaningful policies which directly affect our lives and well-being. We will constructively engage with all interested governmental and non-governmental agencies, to progressively bring this goal to pass.
CEDAW as a women’s rights treaty belongs to all women. We are resolved to enhance widespread awareness of CEDAW standards among Singapore men and women and to provide an open forum to discuss how to better realise these standards.
We wish to honour and celebrate the achievements of first generation Singapore women and to emulate their spirit of perseverance and to learn from their experience and vision. In so doing, we connect the present to the past, as we work together for our better future.
I hope to see you at the upcoming EGM where we will present preliminary details of our programme and projects. My team and I seek your active support and participation in implementing these to serve our community.
AWARE belongs to you.
Warmest wishes
Josie Lau
