Fundamentalist Coup Foiled in Singapore

 Okay, I am not talking about the government: recently a Christian fundamentalist group secretly infiltrated the membership of a women’s rights group called AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research.

At the urging of their “mentor” Dr Thio Su Mien, these new “members” nominated and then elected a completely Executive Committee because, according to Dr Thio Su Mien “AWARE has become a single purpose organization overly concerned with promoting lesbianism."

Much like the raving fundies in the United States, Dr Thio Su Mien seems rather obsessed with queer sexuality. When she served in the Parliament of Singapore she spoke out against the decriminalization of “sodomy” using language that was so strikingly similar to that used by Christian Dominionists in the United States. In fact, the new president of the organization, Josie Lau, was in charge of a fund raising promotion by a Singapore bank, DBS, that raised money for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family (or at least the local Singapore branch). This led to a rather noisy protest around the bank that they certainly weren’t looking for. But that’s a sideshow background to this story…

Of course, AWARE is in no way a single purpose organization, or even an organization that is about lesbianism. But this is what the right does: they lie. And they use the fear of queer to further their agenda, which in this case includes removing sex education from the Singapore school system.

You see, the fundies who engineered the coup were upset that AWARE had been brought in by the Singapore school system to provide age appropriate sex ed. And in fact, the Ministry of Education (not exactly a raving liberal organization there) made  very clear in an official statement following these baseless claims that:

The schools that engaged AWARE found that the content and messages of the sessions conducted were appropriate for their students and adhered to guidelines to respect the values of different religious groups. The schools did not receive any negative feedback from students who attended the workshops and talks or their parents.

Having taken over the organization, it was discovered that these newly elected members of the Executive Committee were in fact all members of the same church, the Church of Our Savior. In the few weeks after they took control they spent tens of thousands of dollars above the monthly budget and above the organizations own spending cap.

This coup, for it is nothing less, has created a furor in Singapore, and rallied the old members of AWARE, some of whom had not been as active recently, which enabled this wholesale takeover.

The press covered the story, often portraying it as a fight between the Christian Right and the “Gay Lobby.” And while there is a gay rights movement in Singapore, AWARE is not it. But of course, any organization that empowers women and educates the young about making informed and responsible decisions about sexual expression will be a target for the right, and will be tarred with the queer label.

The coup mobilized the AWARE membership so that an Extraordinary General Meeting was called and members who perhaps hadn’t been as active recently showed up to show the fundies the door. And in fact, they were most ceremonially, and democratically, deposed.

This is in fact the kind of tactics the Dominionists and their minions have used in some places in the Republican party to turn it to their ends. And it is why that party, which could be a true partner in government and a rational and loyal opposition, has devolved into irrationality and irrelevance. It is also why we must be ever vigilant, and never apathetic, in our role as secular citizens (regardless of our private and personal beliefs) in a country where there is no state religion.

Of course, you might be wondering about the ad just above and to the right and why it's here. Remember, this is a blog by a queer Jewish Buddhist adman, and the ad above was run in Singapore to promote Scrabble. The sentiment that “this is the only time you will enjoy getting sodomised,” could only have been written by a straight man in a culture where queer sexuality is terrifying. In a place where sexual expression of love between men is punishable by law. And in a culture where that ludicrously quaint and rather inaccurate Biblical term is still in use. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to a Facebook Scrabble game I am most sure to lose.

Comments

[Dorothy]

This Dr Thio Su Mien did not serve in the Singapore Parliament. It's her daughter, Dr Thio Li-Ann who made those remarks. There you have it, the "Thio-libans" (Talibans).