IT was a most extraordinary press conference for a civic organisation, one that was hardly civil, one that began with a near-catfight and ended with an awkward silence.

In the middle: Shouting matches, microphone- snatching, wrist-slapping and reporters interrupting one anothers’ questions.

There were accusations that bordered on religious slurs, clarifications, contradictions and utter confusion. And through it all, a mysterious elderly woman sat at one end of the panel.
She introduced herself as “Feminist Mentor” – a picture of calm alongside exco members who spoke with red eyes and quivering voices.

But before the storm, the calm.

The invitation for the press conference came late in the afternoon. The press was informed  sternly: No free admission. Submit the namesof your reporters first. It was a long overdue press conference of the new Exco of Aware.The team had been criticised for remaining largely silent on their agenda ever since they were said to have seized Aware in a planned coupon 28 March.

So the reporters arrived at Raffles Town Club well before the 7pm appointment. But the exco members arrived 20 minutes late.

The chaos started almost immediately.

The five Aware exco members had barely settled into their seats when the first salvo was fired.

Ms Chew I-Jin, the assistant honorary treasurer and a member of the old guard, stood up and started berating the new exco, accusing them of not inviting the old guard.

The new exco sat tight as they tried to defuse the situation.

Sit down, they pleaded. The press conference was only arranged at the last minute, they explained. Ask the press... they can prove it.

It didn’t work. The shouting match continued, with MsChew waving a bag which contained a presentation  she said she wanted to give alongside the new exco’s presentation.

The new exco continued to plead: If you really care about Aware, sit down and let us explain ourselves.

Ms Chew calmed down finally and took a seat on the third row, behind the media.

Exco member Lois Ng took a deep breath, gathered herself and officially began the press conference amid forced smiles.

The microphone was passed to the new president of Aware,Ms Josie Lau.

And all niceties ended.

She looked like she was about to explode as she announced that members of the new exco have received death threats. 

“What is Singapore coming to? Is this what we have become?” she shouted. Other members of the new exco took their turns, describing the harrowing days since they were elected, their voices thick with emotion.

They claimed they had been locked out of their email accounts and slandered. “All this could have been sorted out peacefully between the old and the new guard, but it didn’t happen,” said Ms Lau.

All this while, the elderly woman sat at one end of the table, a picture of calm and serenity.

This “Feminist Mentor” introduced herself as Dr Thio Su Mien, a former law dean.

Insiders recognised her as the mother of Nominated Member of Parliament, Dr Thio Li-ann, who became a controversial figure in the gay and lesbian community after speaking out strongly against homosexuality in Parliament last year.

She is also the auntie of Dr Alan Chin, Ms Lau’s husband.  “All we want to do is to start working, but we have been unable to,” said Ms Lau. And with that, the exco members moved on to explain how they planned to lead Aware.

Aware, they said, had previously been hijacked to further the gay agenda.

They pointed out that to celebrate Mother’s Day in 2006, Aware invited lesbian-friendly mothers and their lesbian daughters to share their experiences.

In the Aware newsletter, former president Constance Singam also wrote about her outreach to SG Butterflies, a support group for transsexuals.

Aware also supported the screening of Spider Lilies, a movie involving a lesbian couple. “My plea is that we should re-focus on the excellent objectives of Aware... go back to the original purpose,” said Dr Thio.

The floor was then open questions from reporters.

Do you have more evidence of Aware’s gay agenda, one asked. After all, Spider Lilies is just one of many movies Aware has sponsored in the past.

To this, the new exco revealed that the old exco has proposed giving voting rights to men, foreign women and teenagers.

Sudden outburst

“We thought that was a bit odd. Why the sudden shift to give them the vote?” asked Dr Thio.

Back at the third row, Ms Chew buried her head in her hands, then burst out: “Because we are inclusive!”

“Don’t throw words at me!” countered Dr Thio. “We are a woman’s organisation... why don’t you form your own group to chase this cause?

“What we want are more Lim Hwee Huas and Chan Heng Chees... women who can inspire us.”

Throughout the question-and-answer session, the new exco members tussled for the lone microphone.

Once, as Ms Ng was in the middle of making a point, Ms Lau, sitting two seats away, reached out her hand for the microphone.

Honorary secretary Jenica Chua, seated between the two of them, lightly tapped her president’s wrists, and hushed her.

All this while, a dinner for a golf tournament at the next ballroom was in full swing, with tipsy golfers next door having a lusty go at the karaoke, their songs almost drowning out the exco members’ voices at times.

Later, Ms Lau was shot a question about her employer DBS, which had publicly criticised her for taking up the presidency. She declined to answer, explaining she did not have permission to do so.

Honorary Treasurer Maureen Ong and Ms Chua leapt to her defence but, as they spoke, Ms Lau listened and shook her head several times. Soon, another reporter’s hand would shoot up and another hand would reach out to grab the microphone.

Up front, the exco members interrupted one another’s long-winded explanations, clarifying one another’s points, sometimes resulting in even more confusion.

At one point, Ms Ong mumbled something about changing Syariah law, but when asked to clarify by a reporter, she took it back and said: “What I want to say is that we are working for all women, whether you are Muslim, Buddhist, Christian...”

“You haven’t answered any of our questions!” exclaimed one exasperated reporter.

Said Ms Ng: “We organised this press conference because we wanted to explain our position.

“Now, we have a question for the media.”

What is the newspapers’ role in all of this, she asked. Why the unusually keen interest in the gay agenda?

Her question was met with silence.

And with that, the press conference ended.

This article was first published in The New Paper