A few important lessons from the AWARE Extraordinary General Meeting held at Suntec Hall 402 on Saturday afternoon.

1. Singapore is a secular nation.
Yes to different races and religions co-existing in Singapore.

No to religious groups flaunting their beliefs on a public platform and expecting everyone else to follow suit.

2. Unity is strength
Versus a collective group of people with similar beliefs who meet on a regular basis, another group of people from more diverse backgrounds came together for a tedious afternoon because they believed.

3. Power of Social Media
#awaresg was the No1 twitter trend in the world. This means that the number of tweets on AWARE surpassed those on H1N1 (swine flu) and Wolverine. It would be naive for anyone to think that social media isn’t relevant in Singapore in 2009. And citizen journalism should not only about taking inane pictures on public transport. Thank you.

4. Public Relations and Communications Skills
Shutting out journalists from MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings from your event is a big no-no. People on their feet for 7 hours straight are unlikely to give you any favourable reviews. Reports will surely emerge, anyway. You hate them because of previously negative reports; you’ll hate them more after the ‘ban’.

Asking people to “shut up and sit down” is only effective in primary schools. Not in a hall filled with an eloquent audience. Similarly, escorting people away from the microphone after failing to answer their questions just highlights your incompetence.