The way the recent Aware saga had unfolded left a bitter taste in my mouth - I assume i did for many too. My response is one of irritation, because my take on the whole episode is that it was a calculated move (gone horribly wrong) to milk publicity. One of the biggest giveaway is the calling of a press conference to ANNOUNCE (whine) that they receive death threats. lol, closing one eye to the blatant mud-slinging, one could not close the other to the tempting of fate here. Should anything (touch wood) happen to any one of them or their loved ones (so said in the death threats), I'll leave you to imagine the headlines. So why the goading here to make the person who made the threats have more incentives for carrying them out. If they deem him/her incapable of such deeds, why the ultimate distress at the press conference? Hence, pointing to my conclusion that this is just a publicity stunt. Similarly for the email "leaks", change of locks episode, cat fights, agenda/homosexuality issues... etc etc.. Note that I'm not questioning the authenticity of the above-mentioned items, but just pointing out that a lot of unnecessary actions have been taken with the aim of raising awareness about Aware.
Well, I guess the entire Singapore at least heard of Aware now, but it's still a move gone horribly wrong. Why? While it may seem in the papers that a lively debate is going on, it's probably an illusion. After surveying 100 people in 2 weeks, I realised that a large majority of Singaporeans steer clear of controversy. Aware being in the centre of controversy now, most of us onlookers would just want to keep a distance away until it settles its problems. So while more people are aware of Aware now, the overall impression of them has gone down the drain. Lastly, the triviality of it all is exemplified when you see how fast we sweep the Aware issue under the carpet in the face of swine flu. Aware should take a breather, work on its damaged reputation, and the most important thing - stop wasting journalistic resources